[...]... .201 The Agricultural Transformation .201 Soil Husbandry and Ceramics 202 From Rainfed to Irrigated Farming 203 Silt and Salt in Ancient Mesopotamia .203 The Sustainability of Egyptian Agriculture 203 Further Reading 204 Classification of Soils 204 Principle of Purpose 205 Principle of Domain .205 Principle of Identity... 222 Further Reading .222 Russian, Background and Principles 223 Introduction 223 Principles, Categories, and Classes in Major Classification Systems Developed in Russia 223 Early Systems 223 NonOfficial Systems in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century 224 Official Systems 224 Classification and diagnostics of soils of the USSR -... Nonequilibrium 193 The Outlook for Studying Chemical Equilibrium in Soils .193 List of Technical Nomenclature 194 Further Reading 194 Childs, Ernest Carr 195 Further Reading 198 Civilization, Role of Soils 199 Human Management of the Soil .199 Historical Attitudes Toward the Soil 199 Human Origins 200 The Paleolithic Transformation... Characteristics of Wetland Soils Biogeochemical Characteristics Microbial Respiration Agronomic, Ecologic, and Environmental Significance Further Reading Applications of Soils Data Introduction Development of Interpretations in the USA Interpretations Beyond Agriculture Today’s Interpretive Categories National Inventory Groupings... Principle of Differentiation .206 Principle of Prioritization 207 Principle of Diagnostics 209 Principle of Membership 209 Principle of Certainty .210 Summary 210 List of Technical Nomenclature 210 Further Reading 210 Classification Systems .211 Australian 211 Introduction 211 History of. .. and pH Buffering 145 Buffering of Soil Oxidation-Reduction Status 146 Buffering of Ion Activities via Dissolution-Precipitation, Ion Exchange, and Ligand Complexation 146 Further Reading 147 C .149 Calcium and Magnesium in Soils 149 Introduction .149 Input to Soils 149 Reactions in Soils 151 Modeling the Dissolution... Functioning 139 Global Change and Impacts on Soil Biodiversity 140 Sustaining Soil Biodiversity 141 Further Reading 141 Buffering Capacity 142 Introduction .142 The Samovar Analogy for Buffering in Soils 142 Buffering of Soil Acidity 143 Dissolution and Precipitation of CaCO3 and Al(OH)3 144 Cation Exchange Reactions and pH Buffering... Charge, and Reactivity Speciation Using More Direct Analytical Methods Further Reading Ammonia Introduction Chemical Reactions of Ammoniacal N Ammonia-Ammonium Equilibrium Retention of Ammonia by Soils Retention and Loss of Surface-Applied Ammoniacal N in Soils Reactions of Urea in Soils Environmental Conditions and Ammonia... Homovalent Binary Exchange 184 Heterovalent Binary Exchange .185 The Future of Cation Exchange 187 List of Technical Nomenclature 188 Further Reading 188 Chemical Equilibria .189 Introduction .189 Chemical Equilibrium 189 Kinetic Definition 189 Free-Energy Definition .189 Applicability of Chemical Equilibrium Principles... to Soils 190 Limitations to Equilibrium in Soils .190 Soil Systems in Which Equilibrium Concepts May Apply 191 Reasonable Expectations from Application of Equilibrium .191 Predict endpoints of reactions 191 Determine ionic activities in soil solution 191 Calculating final conditions for systems that attain equilibrium rapidly 191 Experimental Approach to Equilibrium in . University Wageningen The Netherlands W H van Riemsdijk Department of Soil Quality Wageningen The Netherlands FOREWORD The Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment. rather, a central link in the larger chain of interconnected domains and processes comprising the terrestrial environment. The soil interacts both with the