Mineral or rock material on and/or from which soils are formed during pedogenesis (soil formation process); parent material is one of the five major soil forming factors.

 Grassland used for grazing of mainly domestic herbivores.

Organic soil material with more than 50% of organic matter derived from plant residues with not fully destroyed structure. Peat forms in a wet soil environment or below the water table where mineralisation of organic matter comes close to zero; a peat horizon or layer is normally more than 30cm thick.

A generic term for any wetland where partially decayed plant matter accumulates; mire, moor and muskeg are terms used for peatlands in Europe and Canada; see also bog and fen.

Process of soil formation and development by soil forming factors: climate (mainly temperature and precipitation), parent material, living organisms (plants and biota), topography, time, water and Man.

A three-dimensional body of soil with lateral dimensions (1 to 10 m2) large enough to permit the study of horizon shapes and relations.

Pertaining to processes, conditions, areas, climates and topographic features occurring at the immediate margins of glaciers and ice sheets and influenced by cold temperature of the ice.

(i) permanently frozen subsurface material underlying the solum; (ii) perennially frozen soil horizon where temperature remains below 0°C throughout the year and in which Cryosols form.

Natural (mainly steppe areas) or agricultural soils with grass cover not normally ploughed.

Mechanical cultivation of agricultural soils by the plough to different depths (20 - 30cm), creating arable land.