1. Wonderful Soil

2. An astonishing material  One teaspoon of a cracking clay soil has the surface area of a football field  A shrink/swell clay soil can expand/contract by as much as 30% as it wets and dries  One gram of smectite (shrink/swell clay) has a surface area of about 800 m² Clays are arranged in sheets, with water and nutrients stored in between and around the sheets

3. Biodiversity Microorganisms - one gram of soil may contain a thousand species and several millions of individuals bacteria algae

4. Biodiversity fungi protozoa mesofauna

5. Major support system for life Water – soil stores it and filters it

6. Major support system for life Carbon – soil stores it and releases it Soil is a bigger store of carbon than vegetation and the atmosphere

7. Soils and greenhouse gases Soil cultivation and soil degradation result in losses of organic carbon which is released as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) Agricultural soils (mainly through the use of nitrogen fertilisers) are also significant emitters of nitrous oxide (a more potent greenhouse gas) Improved soil management strategies such as conservation cropping and reduced grazing pressure can increase the store of soil carbon, thereby acting as sinks for atmospheric carbon

8. Major support system for life Plants – soil anchors, waters, and provides nutrients Soil makes food & fibre production possible

9. Major support system for life Building – on Building – with

10. Civilisation - history Without water AND fertile soil, early civilisations would not have developed

11. Civilisation - art & culture

12. When things go wrong Civilisations fall Maya Indus

13. When things go wrong Loss of valuable top soil through wind erosion

14. Despite all this … “We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot” (circa 1500s) Leonardo da Vinci