Wikipedia:WikiProject Soil

WikiProject Soil is a project to organize and improve articles related to soil.

Articles maintained by this WikiProject are grouped in Category:WikiProject Soil by using the {{WikiProject Soil}} template.

Soil is defined as:

• The "material that forms at the interface of the atmosphere and the lithosphere which is capable of supporting plant growth" (White 1997).
• A critically important component of the earth's biosphere maintaining local, regional, and world-wide environmental quality (Doran & Parkin, 1994).
• The "different forms of earth on the surface of the rocks, formed by the breaking down or weathering of rocks."
• A "natural body composed of solids (minerals and organic matter), liquid, and gases that occurs on the land surface, occupies space, and is characterized by one or both of the following: horizons, or layers, that are distinguishable from the initial material as a result of additions, losses, transfers, and transformations of energy and matter or the ability to support rooted plants in a natural environment."
• The granular material on the surface of other celestial bodies. Lunar soil and Martian soil are terms in general use that fit within the context of this project.

Soil articles by quality and importance
Quality	Importance
	Top	High	Mid	Low	NA	???	Total
GA		1	2	2			5
B	12	16	27	31		8	94
C	13	27	77	96		16	229
Start	4	22	133	371		61	591
Stub			13	229		49	291
List		1	3	8			12
Template					4		4
NA		1	7	17	228		253
Assessed	29	68	262	754	232	134	1,479
Unassessed						23	23
Total	29	68	262	754	232	157	1,502
WikiWork factors (?)		ω = 5,909			Ω = 4.88

‎

Alerts

Articles to be split

• 23 Mar 2019 – Tillage (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for splitting by Ma3r (t · c); see discussion

Articles for creation

• 27 Apr 2026 – Draft:Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (talk · edit · hist) has been submitted for AfC by ~2026-23905-30 (t · c)
• 15 Jul 2026 – Draft:Muhammad Kaleem Abbasi (talk · edit · hist) submitted for AfC by BB Janjua (t · c) was declined

Tasks

1. Verify content. Use reliable sources per WP:SCIRS. Read this Signpost editorial.
2. Improve soils-related content at Wikipedia. See Suggested WikiProject Soil Tasks.
3. Assess soil-related articles for quality and importance. See Assessment Department and Change Log. Use {{WikiProject Soil}}.
4. Monitor for vandalism and substandard edits. You can narrow your efforts to monitoring your most active category.
5. Upload public domain soils images from USDA and USGS to Commons:Category:Soils. image source list • upload link
6. Collaborate on soil article tasks identified at WikiProject Ecology, WikiProject Geology and WikiProject Ecoregions.

Participants

See recent soil article editors

those making at least five edits to an article in the WikiProject's subject area within a 30-day period, excluding bots.

New participants, please add your name to this list:

Project participants

• Paleorthid (talk · contribs)
• MarkZusab (talk · contribs)
• Epipelagic (talk · contribs)
• Guettarda (talk · contribs)
• Wil540 art (talk · contribs)
• eh.ebrahimi (talk · contribs)

News

• April 2026 - Appreciation to Jfponge (talk · contribs) for 1000s of constructive edits over the last decade to critically important soil articles, including Soil, Chernozems, Humus, Humus form, Moder humus, Mor humus, Mull humus, Plant nutrients in soil, Redox, Soil formation, Soil gas, Soil matrix, Soil moisture, Soil organic matter, Soil pH, Soil texture, and Physical properties of soil.
• January 2019 - subscribed the project to article alerts.
• May 2016 - started Template:Soil science topics
• May 2010 - template:Infobox soil has been created by Chiton magnificus. Feel free to modify it and to add it to soil articles.
• April 2008 - Two public domain soil profile photographs, uploaded by briefly active User:Jimjet, deleted as unsourced. Jimjet did not specify that he took the photographs as an employee of USDA, and he did not respond to dispute their removal. Deleted photos were of George Demas (Image:GeorgeDemas.png), and a Paxton (soil) profile (Image:Paxton Soil.jpg).
• December 1 2007 - Category:Soil created.
• September 17 2007 - Soil de-listed from good article status due to lack of breadth and a bias towards soil science.
• February 10 2007 - Soil achieves good article status.
• September 15 2006 - Soil is tagged as a Class A article for Wikipedia version 0.5 by Titoxd.
• September 13 2006 - Soil improved substantially in response to comments made during FAC consideration between September 4 and September 13.

Parentage

The parents of this WikiProject are Portal:Earth sciences and WikiProject Science.

Related projects, portals, and collaborations

WikiProjects

• Agriculture
• Biology
• Ecoregions
• Ecology
• Environment
• Geography
• Geology

Portals

• Portal:Geography
• Portal:Science
  • Portal:Agriculture and Agronomy
  • Portal:Earth sciences
  • Portal:History of science

Templates

See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Soil/Templates

• {{WikiProject Soil}} Posted to article talk page. Generates placement within an article assessment category structure.
• {{soil}} redirects to {{WikiProject Soil}}.
• {{soil type}} infobox template.
• {{soil-sci-stub}} Posted to article. Stub articles relating to soil science.
• {{soil-stub}} Posted to article. Stub articles relating to soil materials and soil resources. Under development. Currently redirects to {{soil-sci-stub}}.
• {{subst:SoilWelcome|yourusername}}. Posted to new Wikipedia user talk page.
• {{subst:SoilWelcome-anon|yourusername}} Posted to new anon user talk page.
• {{subst:SoilGreeting-new|yourusername}} Posted to user talk page.
• {{subst:SoilGreeting-exp|yourusername}} Posted to experienced user's talk page.