Soil Horizons

[Ozark Lady]

I thought about this while reading the clay thread.

I remember reading about the horizons. And when the dozers were busy building the septic system... I just couldn't resist, looking at the cut away dirt. I mean... walk up to it and look...

I saw... the surface soil, dark and richer red... brown high lights, in some areas where there was alot of leaves prior to digging, it was black...
Then you looked downward, it got lighter in color, and powdery, I assume that was like a mineral layer. Then on down... it started having lots of limestone rocks in it, and was still white looking, then oddly enough underneath all that... about 3 feet down... It was dark red clay.. You could touch it and it felt... like modelling clay.

For me, it was educational... You can see how far down the humus has penetrated. You can see the changes that have taken place... as you look down.. that cut dirt bank.

Wouldn't it be great if we could look down our gardens and see where the break happens... what we have affected with our compost or mulch... How the very roots have brought up stuff from farther down.
I read that alfalfa has roots that go down... 25 feet. I have never had the opportunity to look at a dirt bank cut 25 feet... what would it look like?