ABSTRACT
Summary of key points:
Soil is differentiated according to its origin and because of subsequent developments involving interactions with the environment.
The processes operating are reflected in the arrangements of soil materials in layers or horizons.
It is those factors which relate to interactions with the environment which are self-evidently sensitive to environmental change, especially the hydrological, chemical and biological components.
These factors can also be readily altered by human manipulation, together with any losses of soil particles through erosion.
Discussions of global warming should not detract from the concerns we already have about human manipulations of soils and soil erosion.
