concept

Pedogenesis

The formation of soil from bare rock, through physical and chemical weathering together with the accumulation of organic matter — the slowest and most decisive step of primary succession. On volcanic ground it carries a long-run paradox: the very rock now starving the land, weathered over centuries in a wet climate, becomes an Andisol — among the most fertile soils on Earth. The problem is purely one of tempo: destruction takes an afternoon, fertility takes centuries to millennia. A lifetime falls entirely inside the gap between them.