Claiming and Exploring the Lower Reaches of Soil.

Soil science became an independent discipline somewhat more than a century ago in order to take a holistic view of the Earth’s life-supporting mantle of regolith.  Since then pedologists have been extraordinarily productive, unraveling the major processes behind most of the morphologic features observed within the upper 2 m of soil and, in the USA, producing a comprehensive survey of soils to this depth. The scientific community is now increasingly recognizing the importance of deeper zones of regolith. Because processes active in the upper 2 m of soil continue into these deeper zones, pedologists have developed insights and methodologies that are the most appropriate for understanding deep regolith processes. This talk will present evidence for a continuum of soil processes deep into the regolith, describe the challenge of exploring soil genesis and function in the deep regolith, and consider how this challenge might be met, including the potential roles of soil survey.