Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organicmatter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from soil by restricting the former term specifically to displaced soil.

Soil consists of a solid phase of minerals and organic matter (the soil matrix), as well as a porous phase that holds gases (the soil atmosphere) and water (the soil solution)

soil is a three-state system of solids, liquids, and gases. Soil is a product of several factors: the influence of climate, relief (elevation, orientation, and slope of terrain), organisms, and the soil's parent materials (original minerals) interacting over time.

It continually undergoes development by way of numerous physical, chemical and biological processes, which include weathering with associated erosion

The evolution of soils and their properties is called soil formation, and according to pedologists, five fundamental soil formation processes influence soil properties. These five “state factors” are parent material, topography, climate, organisms, and time.