The Human Impact on All Soil-Forming Factors during the Anthropocene

Soil the thinouter skin of the Earth's land isa critical and fragile natural resource. Soil is the basis for almostall global agriculture and the medium in which most terrestrial biologicalactivity occurs. Here, we reconsider the five forming factors of soiloriginally suggested more than a century ago (parent material, time,climate, topography, and organisms) and updated over the years toadd human activity as the sixth forming factor. We demonstrate howpresent anthropogenic activity has become the leading component influencingeach one of the original forming factors. We thus propose that, startingfrom the Anthropocene, human activity should no longer be consideredas a separate forming factor but rather a main driving force of eachof the five original ones. We suggest that the importance of soiland the strong direct and indirect effects of anthropogenic factorson soil-forming factors should be considered together to ensure sustainabilityof this critical resource.