Soil Minerals and Their Uses
The soil minerals present in the soil have following uses:
- Quartz: Provides stability and drainage, ensuring proper aeration for plant roots.
- Feldspar: Helps with nutrient exchange and contributes to soil fertility, supporting healthy plant growth.
- Mica: Adds to soil structure, promoting water retention and preventing erosion.
- Iron Oxides: Give soil its color and help with nutrient availability to plants, aiding in photosynthesis and overall growth.
- Phosphorus: Absorbed in the form of phosphate ions. It is a constituent of cell membranes, certain proteins, all nucleic acids and nucleotides.
- Potassium: Required by meristematic tissues, buds, leaves and root tips. It maintains anion-cation balance in cells, is involved in protein synthesis, opening and closing of stomata, maintenance of turgidity of cells.
- Calcium: Plays an important role in synthesis of middle lamella, formation of mitotic spindles etc.
- Magnesium: Essential constituent of chlorophyll and helps in maintaining ribosome structure.
- Iron: Required in large amounts compared to other micronutrients. It is obtained as ferric ions from the soil. It is an important constituent of transport proteins, it activates catalase enzyme and is essential for the formation of chlorophyll.
- Manganese activates many enzymes involved in photosynthesis, respiration and nitrogen metabolism. Its most important role is the splitting of water during photosynthesis.
- Molybdenum: Important constituent of enzymes of nitrogen metabolism like nitrogenase and nitrate reductase.
- Chlorine: Helps in determining solute constituent of cells and helps in maintaining its anion-cation balance. It plays important role in the water splitting reaction of photosynthesis.
Mineral Riches in the Soil
Soil minerals are naturally occurring, inorganic substances found in soil, such as sand, clay, and various metal oxides. Minerals in the soil are essential for plant growth and soil fertility. The outermost layer of the earth, known as crust, is covered with a mixture of organic and inorganic material called soil.
Soil serves as a medium for the growth of plants as it is rich in minerals and useful living organisms. The mineral composition of the soil is about 45-50%, organic matter constitutes about 1-5% of it whereas the remaining space is filled with air and water. Soil minerals examples include quartz, feldspar, mica, iron oxides, and calcium carbonate. In this article, we will cover minerals in the soil, their types, uses, and more.
Table of Content
- What is Soil?
- Soil Minerals
- How Minerals Form in Soil?
- Soil Minerals Types
- Minerals Present in Soil
- Soil Minerals and Their Uses
- Conclusion – Soil Minerals
- FAQs on Soil Minerals
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