Soil stories frozen in time

When we talk about soil profiles, we usually do not stand in the landscape where they formed. Imagine cutting a vertical window into the ground to reveal what has been developing there for hundreds or even thousands of years. Some of the oldest soils in the world are millions of years old.

Photos can help us visualise soils, but they remain flat. A soil profile is not just something you see — it is something you experience spatially. For this reason, one can create what are called soil monoliths: undisturbed vertical slices of soil that are carefully removed from the field and preserved.

You can think of it as cutting a piece of landscape history, almost like slicing bread or cake, and then stabilising it so it remains intact. After being carefully cut in the field, the soil section is slowly dried and fixed with glue over several weeks.