Soil provides a place to plant roots

Soil, the living land beneath our feet, is often overlooked in our everyday lives and few realize what an important role it plays - from producing the food we eat to the fiber we wear to supporting the houses we live in and roads we drive on.

As the U.S. just celebrated Earth Day, let's not walk over the soil without giving it a second look.

Soil is the solid material of Earth's surface that results from the interaction of weather and biological activities and is produced from broken down rocks, organic matter (decayed animal and plant life), water and air.

It can take more than 500 years to form one inch of topsoil, which is the upper layer of soil, usually the top two to eight inches. It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms, and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs.

Plants generally concentrate their roots in, and obtain most of their nutrients from this layer.

Nearly 21,000 soil types are found in the U.S. and Texas has more than 1,300 different soil types. All soil types consist of varying amounts of silt, sand and clay and each soil type is suited for a different use.

For more information on urban or rural conservation efforts, visit the Texas NRCS Web site at tx.nrcs.usda.gov.

To learn more about the soil you have underneath your feet, visit the NRCS Web Soil Survey Web site at websoilsurvey. nrcs.usda.gov, which provides soil data, maps and information produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey.