HUMANITY'S TRANSFORMATION OF EARTH'S SOIL

• DOI: 10.1097/ss.0b013e3181586bb7
• Publication Date: 2007-12-11T08:01:25Z
• Authors: Daniel deB. Richter
• Keywords: Pedology; Earth system science

Pedology was born in the 18th and 19th centuries, when soil first conceived as a natural body worthy of its own scientific investigation. For well over century, pedology explored system developed from complex processes. By mid-20th however, human activities began to affect substantial global changes with influence on dynamics Earth's environment. Such anthropedogenesis defined "metapedogenesis" by Yaalon Yaron (1966), definition that we propose here be important development natural-body concept articulated Dokuchaev Hilgard more than century ago. In this article, distinguish between humanity's contemporary historic influences soil, it is increasingly for ecosystem analysis management are overlain those past. Although our understanding change strikingly elementary, fundamental establishing greater control rapidly changing ecosystems. Humanity's transformation challenges scientists develop broad purview decades' time scale, supports science environment, ecosystems, change.