The first deep soils
Roots break rock apart, and land develops soil worth the name for the first time.
- When
- Known to
- ± 10 million years
- Era
- Devonian, Paleozoic
As plants evolve anchoring and absorbing root systems, they penetrate and fracture bedrock, mixing mineral fragments with decaying organic matter. The resulting soils retain water and nutrients, support far larger plants, and dramatically accelerate chemical weathering. Devonian palaeosols are the first to look broadly like modern ones, and their formation changes the chemistry of rivers and oceans worldwide.