From mutable compounds to soil minerals

Abstract

A synopsis of the development of the many aspects of soil mineralogy is given, bearing out the great importance of mineralogy in soil science. These aspects include the identification and quantitative determination of soil minerals, the clay-mineral concept, the function of mineralogy in soil classification, the disregarded non-silicate minerals and the formation and transformation of minerals. Several of the encountered, and the remaining, problems are indicated and references containing useful specific information and/or new lines of thought are given.