Soil Temperature

Soil Temperature

Soil Temperature
Every biological process needs an optimum temperature to get accomplished. A maize seed germinates only at a temperature range of 7-10°C and most of the soil microbes function best at 25-35°C Soil gets heated up mainly due to solar radiation and its temperature is highly influenced by the amount of solar radiation received by the soil which in turn depends on the climate of the region. The amount of sunlight reaching the soil again depends on the slope of the land. For example, if the land is slope, then the amount of solar radiation striking the unit volume of land decreases as the slope increases.

This is not the case in the leveled land where each unit area of land receives equal proportion of solar radiation. Soil temperature also depends on the vegetation cover of the land. A barren land gets heated up faster and cools up at a rapid rate whereas in a land covered with vegetation which acts as an insulation barrier, soil temperature remains near optimum. Soil colour also influences the temperature as seen in darker soils that absorb more solar radiation than a light coloured soil.

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