Crossword clues for topsoil
topsoil
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Topsoil \Top"soil`\, n. The upper layer of soil; surface soil.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. The most fertile soil, easiest to start new plants in.
WordNet
n. the layer of soil on the surface [syn: surface soil]
Wikipedia
Topsoil is the upper, outermost layer of soil, usually the top to . It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs. Four elements constitute the composition of soil. Those elements are mineral particles, organic matter, water, and air. The majority of the top soils' volume consists of 50 to 80 percent of these particles which form the skeletal structure of most soils. This composition allows the soil to sustain its own weight, and other internal matter such as water and overlying landscape. Organic matter, another important element, varies on quantity on different soils. This provokes positive and negative effects or reactions on the soil. The strength of soil structure decreases with the presence of organic matter, creating weak bearing capacities. Organic matter condenses and settles in different ways under certain conditions, such as roadbeds and foundations. The skeletal structure becomes affected once the soil is dewatered. The soil’s volume substantially decreases. It decomposes and suffers wind erosion.
Usage examples of "topsoil".
The raised bridge, the aftercastle and observation decks and lounges, became steep knolls skinned in topsoil.
The ground purred beneath them, as hidden cables hummed inches below the ragged topsoil.
The yellowish-gray topsoil of the Kursk region highlighted every large-scale move made by both sides.
In the 1950s, it was estimated that the Hmong of Laos were burning about four hundred square miles of land a year and, by letting the topsoil leach away, causing enough erosion to alter the courses of rivers.
Polished red madrona trees slanted out from the shore, their roots clinging tenaciously to a thin layer of topsoil.
We lost some species, mostly from overfishing and from the dumping of pollutants and washed-off topsoil in the shallow waters around the coastlines.
There were no springs, and the crust of topsoil was so thin that the flinty bones stuck through.
Even if the storms cause floods or landslides, beneath the movement of a little topsoil, the shape of the land and the contour of it remains the same.
The downpour had already loosened the topsoil enough that the horses kicked up clods of muddy earth with each step.
A curve-billed thrasher whit-wheeting his way between mesquite and cholla, chunking into the topsoil for bugs.
That was what he had been thinking a few moments ago, that the topsoil had been replaced by this weird round beadlike shit.
A large lump of damp soil hit the ground where he had lain but a moment before, the damp cast spreading as it splattered into the dry topsoil, making an impression where his head would have been and raising enough dust to suggest that it would at least have concussed him.
Richard Jessup couldn't see the base because the cockpit windows now faced skyward, but he could imagine what lay below: eleven modules arranged in a row and buried under the red topsoil, the vehicles parked nearby and, not far away, the quadrangle of ancient pyramids which was the lost city of Mars .
In a few thousand years maybe the planet would have topsoil, cover crops, forests, and a balanced animal population again, but Thetis as of now was a ruin whose population was streaming away to whatever havens it could find.
Over a hundred million cubic feet of topsoil went on the rampage and it took with it a railroad, a highway and the homes of three hundred people.