ABSTRACT
Soils are dynamic, open biogeochemical systems with influxes and effluxes of matter and energy. Many soil-forming processes proceed simultaneously, and the resulting soil reflects the balance of these processes. Exact information about the factors affecting the genesis of the soils at a certain site should be based on detailed climatic, topographic and geological maps both of the bedrock and Quaternary deposits, and on careful observations of land-use and vegetation at the site. Distinct regimes or combinations of processes produce distinctive soils with distinct compositions and properties. True equilibrium is nearly never attained, but soil development may reach a steady-state. The soil processes form soil from not-soil but the processes are themselves functions of the soil change, because they go on in a continuously changing environment.
