Soil dissolved parent rock as a secondary mineral, except when derived from the weathering of mica. It is the surface area to volume ratio (specific surface area) of soil particles and the unbalanced ionic electric charges within those that determine their role in the fertility of soil, as measured by its cation exchange capacity. Sand is least active, having the least specific surface area, followed by silt; clay is the most active. Sand's greatest benefit to soil is that it resists compaction and increases soil porosity, although this property stands only for pure sand, not for sand mixed with smaller minerals
Martian soil data, and immobile under current aeolian conditions. Consequently, rocks classify as grains exceeding the size of cobbles on the Wentworth scale. This approach enables agreement across Martian remote sensing methods that span the electromagnetic spectrum from gamma to radio waves. ‘‘Soil’’ refers to all other, typically unconsolidated, material including those sufficiently fine-grained to be mobilized by wind. Soil consequently encompasses a variety of regolith components identified at landing sites. Typical examples include: bedform armor, clasts, concretions, drift, dust, rocky fragments, and sand. The functional definition reinforces a recently proposed genetic definition of soil on terrestrial bodies (including asteroids and satellites)