The observation by Humphrey Davy (1813) that “there must be at least as many varieties of soil as there are species of rocks exposed at the surface of the Earth” (Davy, 1813), is conceivably the earliest recognition in modern science, of the parent rock as a significant soil‐forming factor. The importance of the lithosphere to an understanding of the pedosphere is now well accepted. Consequently, the following discussion begins with the internal cycle of the Earth, the fundamental source (literally) of the lithosphere and of new materials that have been added to the soil‐forming system throughout geological time.
Nature and origin of the lithosphere
The lithosphere is the outer zone of the solid Earth, made up of the crust and a part of the upper mantle welded to it. On a global scale it is fractured into a number of separate plates all of which are capable of moving relative to each other. Convection in the mantle, fueled by radiogenic heat, is the driving force that moves the plates...
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Sposito, G., Chesworth, W., Evans, L., Chesworth, W. (2008). Geology and Soils. In: Chesworth, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Soil Science. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3995-9_245
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