Role and Importance of Soil

Soil is the vital natural habitat that regulates our environment and
responds to the pressures imposed upon it. Ignored by the majority
of us, soil carries out a number of key tasks that are essential to our
well-being:

Soil is the medium that enables us to grow our

food, natural fibre, timber and support wildlife
One of the most widely recognised functions of soil is material in
which plants grow. In turn, many of these plants are used by people
directly as food (i.e. crops), as feed for animals or for fibre (energy).
Generally, soil in northern latitudes has severe limitations for cropping.
Most of the soils are shallow, too wet and lacking in nutrients. The
extreme climate, coupled with the strong soil limitations, means that
biological activity and the availability of essential nutrients in the soil
are relatively low; not ideal conditions for conventional agriculture!
In cold northern regions, the most productive agricultural soils are
to be found along the major river valleys and estuaries. These areas
have the warmest temperature regime and often lack permafrost. In
northern Eurasia, the majority of rivers flow from south to north.
River water brings a huge amount of heat from the south to the frigid
northern regions. This effect allows the tree line to reach 72° 30’ N
in the Khatanga River valley in north-central Siberia whereas the tree The aerial photograph shows the confluence of the Delta River with the Tanana River in Alaska (64°2"52' N 145°43"7' W). Annual precipitation
is only around 30 cm, including 94 cm of snow. The average minimum temperature in January is -23°C with an average maximum during July
line in Northern America is below 70° N. of +20°C. The geometric red and green patterns that are visible on the image are agricultural areas which in the northern circumpolar region
are generally found in river valleys where the climate is a little warmer and cultivation can occur during the spring and summer months. In
the past, frozen rivers such as the Tanana were used as major transportation routes throughout the Arctic. (CP)

Soil is a natural filter and regulator of water flow

One of the key functions of soil is to act as a natural purification system.
Over time, soil has the ability to filter, absorb and transform substances.
Chemical compounds that are deposited on or in the soil, together
with excess agro-chemicals, can be trapped by soil, thus preventing
them from reaching clear water supplies. Additionally, contaminates
can be degraded or otherwise made unavailable to plants and animals
through a range of biogeochemical processes. However, high levels of
toxins or severe soil degrading can disrupt these processes leading to a
loss of this function.
In addition, soil is a key regulator of water flow. Soil can absorb much
of the rain that falls on it, but the amount varies according to texture,
structure, organic matter content and vegetation cover. Well structured
loamy soil under grass or woodland acts like a sponge and can absorb
as much as 40 % of its volume as water. Soil also acts like a tap, turning
water flow on and off by storing and releasing water for plants when
needed. Urban planners now realise that the sealing of soil by materials As a result of the cold climate, biomass production and the productivity of northern soils
are low. The photograph shows natural reindeer pasture in Finland where animals must
such as concrete and asphalt, together with compaction of the subsoil, cover considerable distances to feed. (GB)
is a significant factor in flood control. Any reduction in the capacity of
soil infiltration will lead to increased overland flow, the rapid transfer of
rainfall to river channels, flooding and erosion.
Soil is the environmental engine room where
dead plant and animal tissues and other Soil and water
organic matter are decomposed to provide
nutrients for the growth of new life. Infiltration is the downward entry of water into the soil through
the soil surface, essentially the boundary between the atmosphere
and the ground. The ability of water to enter the soil is related to
The decay of organic matter is driven by soil organisms, the total its porosity (the amount of space within the soil) and permeability
weight of which below a temperate grassland can exceed 5 tonnes (the ability of liquids to flow through the soil). In turn, these factors
per hectare, equalling or exceeding the above ground biomass. are governed by the texture and structure of the soil, the initial soil
A few grams of such soil contains billions of bacteria, hundreds moisture content, soil composition and the swelling of clay minerals
of kilometres of fungal hyphae, tens of thousands of protozoa, that can cause cracks in the soil to close. Water that has infiltrated
thousands of nematodes, several hundred insects, arachnids and the soil can later be released through evapotranspiration, subsurface
worms, and hundreds of meters of plant roots. flow or as surface runoff.

The biota turns the soil into a biological engine. The biota is involved Percolation is the movement of water though the soil by gravity and
in most of the key soil functions, driving fundamental nutrient cycling capillary forces. Water that is in contact with air in the soil is called
processes, regulating plant communities, degrading pollutants and vadose water. Where the voids (pores) in the soil are full of water,
this saturated zone is called groundwater. Groundwater can move in
helping to stabilize soil structure. Soil organisms also represent a
both vertical and horizontal directions. The boundary that separates
crucially important biotechnological resource, with many species of
the vadose and the saturation zones is called the water table.
bacteria and actinomycetes providing sources of antibiotics.
A spring is a location where the water table reaches the surface.
Groundwater discharges from soil to streams and rivers form the
base flow during dry periods.
Peat is an organic soil that accumulates is wetlands and is a
characteristic soil of the northern circumpolar region. Peat acts
as a ‘natural sponge’ that regulates river flows: providing constant
flows in times of drought and alleviating flooding following excess
rainfall. The photograph shows a section through a deep peat
bog in Ireland. The high moisture content of the soil can be seen
clearly in the photograph, note the groundwater spring where the
fern grows. The white, spindly elements in the foreground are
Life in the cold of Antarctica
the roots of woody shrubs that once grew on the peat. Draining
peatlands increases the rate of runoff, leads to erosion and, Despite the public perception of millions of penguins inhabiting the
eventually, to major changes in the landscape. (AJ)
coastal areas of Antarctica, a soil microarthropod called Nanorchestes
(a creature similar to the mite shown in the photograph to the left) is
Soil biodiversity reflects the very diverse mix of living organisms in the soil. Our
knowledge of the diversity of life under our feet is still at a basic level. The picture believed to be the dominant living species in this cold continent!
shows a mite which lives in sandy soils on the Norwegian coast. This mite species
has a body size of less than 1 mm. Mites inhabit litter layers and air-filled soil
pores. Mites consume plant and animal residues, soil fungi and bacteria or are
carnivorous. Microarthopods regulate the decomposition rate of organic matter,
affect nutrient cycling and play an important part in soil fertility. (DR)

10 Soil Atlas of the Northern Circumpolar Region | Introduction