What Is the Difference Between a Calcified & a Leached Soil Profile?

Understand the core facts What Is the Difference Between a Calcified & a Leached Soil Profile supported by expert analysis.

In warm, dry grasslands, soil bacteria and fungi rapidly convert decaying organic matter into humus, so the upper layers of the soil become rich. Burrowing animals mix this organic matter deeper into the soil. The grasses uptake plenty of calcium and draw it up from lower layers of the soil; when they die, they return it to the upper layers, so these soils tend to be slightly alkaline and feature large quantities of calcium salts. For this reason, they are called calcified soils. Calcification can also take place in desert regions; only here, the process is somewhat different -- water rising through capillary action leaves deposits of calcium carbonate, and little or no organic matter is present.