Pedosphere

Outermost layer of the Earth

The pedosphere (from Ancient Greek πέδον (pédon) 'ground, earth' and σφαῖρα (sphaîra) 'sphere') is the outermost layer of the Earth's crust that is composed of soil and subject to soil formation and erosion processes. It exists at the interface of the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. The pedosphere is the "stratum corneum" of the Earth's surface and only develops when there is a dynamic interaction between the atmosphere (air in and above the soil), biosphere (living organisms and associated organic matters), lithosphere (unconsolidated regolith and consolidated bedrock) and the hydrosphere (water in, on and below the soil).

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