FORMATION OF SOIL

Evolution of Earth took place five to eight billion years ago when it was a red hot magma (molten rock). It took millions of years for the magma to cool down and during this process it got transformed in many ways. In the initial stages there was no water on Earth's surface, it rained for some million years and filled up valley like places to make oceans and sea s. In these early stages of evolution, Earth conditions were quite drastic in which formation of many silicates, like orthoclase, took place.

These in contact with water slowly hydrolysed to give open structured silicates called clay minerals. This transformation took another million years. Sometimes in between, life came into existence in water and evolved. This evolution was accompanied by the evolution of soil organisms which helped in the formation of soil