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NOTES FOR AN ESSAY: CO~IPO$T IS
~ CO~f~fONS
. Compost is a commons with the biospheric function to integrate the primary domains of air, water, and land-based minerals. Compost, as a physical substance, acu as. a I)'nch pin betwe:n the domains of air,' water, and land-based minerals, which arc also commons. J-Jumus, a word that is often misunderstood and misapplied in both senses. refers to completely decomposed organic mauer, and is the essential material rhat occurs in the end product from the ~many bio-chemical and biological processes within the overall decomposition process. "'Strictly speaJdng. humus is about 95-97% . humic acid and humatcs. One or its physical properties and the one that makes it a jin~ qW2 non value is that it holds water like a superefficient spoftge. Without its
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presence, there is only a spurious presence of water on bureon rock surfaces bathed only in ,air, not water, until some event brings humus to that point (place) . and with it a. '.
.lin~ qua non colloidal SUtc. Thus, in a mini-microel\vironment comprised only or a.ir, i1n indctcnninate mix of land-based minerals, an~ humus retaining water. B10 LOG I C A L activity is possible. Before the humus appeared a~ that point, those domains were elementary domains. NO\V, INTEGRATED BY THE FUNCTION OF fl UMUS, a succession of single cell and multice.l1plants and animals. can live at that point (place) and those domains can function on a quality level of existence ~ather than 'the level of mere substance.. Those minerals dissolved in water in ~e presence. of . sunlight and chloro'phyll' is the fecund field where the' whole food chain f.9f all plantS and animals and humans originates. . The iinplications of this point on even I small patch of sandy clay with the
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presence of humu.s, is that the ~andY ~~ay wH.J.hoJsl wa~r &l!!!.~~eate a soil ~tmosp~e~c
and an above-soil atmosphere an the Immediate vea around thIS' patch- ThIS humlduy, afso' a new dimension of the air domain, In turn provides the function to mediate and
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moderate ternperarure, and consequently providing a sta~i1izing influence in . the daily tempeuture cycle for that locale. ~. ~ .
This synergeric effect can .be' viewed a.s a rudimentary 'unit" ,of CLIrrfA TIC value and is a necessary precondition (or succession of any fonns or, species to occur. That is, I mechanism whereby climate and biological systems and the primary domains have ~ functional
and .interdependent
relationship..
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.. For the long term that concerns us here, the most u,seful returns will most. c:,rlainly come from studies on the fundamental processes that link' chemical, physical, geological and biolo.gical componentS of the Eanh System.'~~: COhtPOST!
j.w.G~~~tc,1/~Af!~!~A~ff~I(f'R,~1)h~r6 L
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SOIL EVOLUTION' l1apJ'
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MINERALCOMPONENTS 8 Elements Comprise 98% or All Soil Mineral Sodium(2.8%) Iron(5.0%) Potassium
(2.6%)
Silicon (27.6%)
Oxygen
(46.5%)
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