Vasily Vasili'evich Dokuchaev (1846 – 1903) was a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n geographer

Geographer

A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...

 who is credited with laying the foundations of soil science

Soil science

Soil science is the study of soil as a natural resource on the surface of the earth including soil formation, classification and mapping; physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soils; and these properties in relation to the use and management of soils.Sometimes terms which...

.

Overview

Vasily Vasil'evich Dokuchaev is commonly regarded as the father of pedology

Pedology

Pedology may refer to:*Pedology *Pedology *Pediatrics...

, the study of soils in its natural setting. He developed soil science in Russia, and was, perhaps the first person to make wide geographical investigations of different soil types. His great contribution to science was, literally, to "put soils on the map".

He introduced the idea that geographical variations in soil type

Soil type

In terms of soil texture, soil type usually refers to the different sizes of mineral particles in a particular sample. Soil is made up in part of finely ground rock particles, grouped according to size as sand, silt and clay...

 could be explained in relation not only to geological factors (parent material

Parent material

In soil science, parent material is the underlying geological material in which soil horizons form...

), but also to climatic and topographic factors, and the time available for pedogenesis

Pedogenesis

Pedogenesis is the science and study of the processes that lead to the formation of soil ' and first explored by the Russian geologist Vasily Dokuchaev , the so called grandfather of soil science, who determined that soil formed over time as a consequence of...

 (soil formation) to operate. Using these ideas as a basis, he created the first soil classification

Soil classification

Soil classification deals with the systematic categorization of soils based on distinguishing characteristics as well as criteria that dictate choices in use.- Overview :...

. His ideas were quickly taken up by a number of soil scientists, including Hans Jenny

Hans Jenny (pedologist)

Hans Jenny was a soil scientist and expert on pedology , particularly the processes of soil formation.- Overview :...

.
He worked on soil science, and developed a classification scheme describing five factors for soil formation

Clorpt

Clorpt or Corpt is a mnemonic for Hans Jenny's famous state equation for soil formation:S = f* S is for soil,* cl represents climate,* o organisms including humans,* r relief,* p parent material, or lithology, and...

. He arrived at his theory after extensive field studies on Russian soils in 1883. His most famous work is Russian Chernozem (1873). Thanks to Dokuchaev's works a number of Russian soil terms are in the international soil science vocabulary (chernozem

Chernozem

Chernozem , also known as "black land" or "black earth", is a black-coloured soil containing a high percentage of humus 7% to 15%, and high percentages of phosphoric acids, phosphorus and ammonia...

, podsol

Podsol

In soil science, podzols are the typical soils of coniferous, or boreal forests. They are also the typical soils of eucalypt forests and heathlands in southern Australia...

, gley

Gley

Gley may refer to:* Eugène Gley , French physiologist and endocrinologist* Gley soil, a type of hydric soil* Gley Lancer, a shoot 'em up game for Sega Mega Drive and Virtual Console...

, solonets). A crater

Impact crater

In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...

 on Mars

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

is named in his honor.

Quote

The scientific basis of soil science as a natural science was established by the classical works of Dokuchaev. Previously, soil had been considered a product of physicochemical transformations of rocks, a dead substrate from which plants derive nutritious mineral elements. Soil and bedrock were in fact equated.

Dokuchaev considers the soil as a natural body having its own genesis and its own history of development, a body with complex and multiform processes taking place within it. The soil is considered as different from bedrock. The latter becomes soil under the influence of a series of soil-formation factors (climate, vegetation, parent material, relief and age). According to him, soil should be called the "daily" or outward horizons of rocks regardless of the type; they are changed naturally by the common effect of water, air and various kinds of living and dead organisms.

Authored Works

• Dokuchaev, V.V. 1879. Short Historical Description and Critical Analysis of the More Important Soil Classifications. Trav. Soc. Nat. St. Petersburg 10: 64-67. (In Russian)
• Dokuchaev, V.V. 1879. Tchernozeme (terre noire) de la Russie d‘Europe (Chernozem of European Russia). Société Impériale Libre Economique. Imprimeric, Trenke & Fusnot, St. Petersburg (in French).
• Dokuchaev, V.V. 1883. Russian Chernozem. In Selected Works of V.V. Dokuchaev, Vol. 1, p. 14–419. Moscow, 1948. Israel Program for Scientific Translations Ltd. (for USDA-NSF), S. Monson, Jerusalem, 1967. (Translated from Russian into English by N. Kaner).
• Dokuchaev, V.V. 1893. The Russian Steppes: Study of the Soil in Russia, Its Past and Present. St. Petersburg, Russia: Department of Agriculture Ministry of Crown Domains for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago.
• Dokuchaev, V.V., N.M. Sibirtsev. 1893. Short Scientific Review of Professor Dokuchaev's and His Pupil's Collection of Soils Exposed in Chicago in the Year 1893. St. Petersburg, Russia: Department of Agriculture Ministry of Crown Domains for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago.