Atlantic Resource Management

“A teaspoon of productive soil generally contains between 100 million and 1 billion bacteria. That is as much mass as two cows per acre.” NRCS – Soil Biology, The Living Soil: Bacteria;

Accessed 6/10/2013: http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_biology/bacteria.html
In some areas the soils have weathered in place from the residual rock or parent material. However “the soil of the Coastal Plain developed on loose, unconsolidated, generally flat layers of sediment, which were deposited during Cretaceous, Tertiary and Quaternary sea level fluctuation and erosion of the Appalachian Mountains.”

Accessed 6/10/2013: http://geology.teacherfriendlyguide.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=224&Itemid=228
The main coloring agent in soils is carbon and iron. The carbon is typically located in the topsoil (giving it a darker color) and will burn off with plant uptake and decomposition. The iron is located throughout the soil and gives the various colors of yellows, reds, and browns. Changes in iron chemistry (due to solubility in water) help us identify the seasonal high water table.
The Delaware State Soil is the Greenwich Series. Greenwich series are the most productive in all of Delaware. They support the state’s number one crop – soybeans. In Fact, soybeans grow on nearly half of Delaware farmland!

- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History; Official State Soil: Greenwich, Delaware, Accessed 6/10/2013:
http://forces.si.edu/soils/interactive/statesoils/index.html
To a soil scientist dirt is under your fingernails, the rest is “soil”.
There are approximately 7,000 species of earthworms reported worldwide.
There are approximately 23,000 soil series documented in the United States.
Due to the sandiness of the Coastal Plain, approximately 80% of the rainwater will infiltrate the soil (20% runoff).
The earthy, garden smell often present in soil is actually Geosmins, an organic compound, produced by soil bacteria.

About ARM, Inc.