Index >> Microbes and Lithosphere>> Soil Minerals

Soil Minerals

The  nature of soil basically depends on the nature of minerals present in it. Minerals are naturally occurring inorganic material that have definite structure, composition and properties. Soil minerals are of two types:

Primary minerals which originate in the parent rock, e.g. feldspars, pyroxenes, amphiboles, mica, etc.

Secondary minerals which are formed from the alteration and decomposition of primary minerals (also called clay minerals since the chief constituent in them is clay), e.g. silicate clays like kaolinite, smectite, vermiculite.