Locos por la Geología

Este texto aparecerá traducido al castellano el próximo viernes.

Once again I select a paragraph from a wonderful book, «Eating dirt» by Charlotte Gill to share with all of you. In this case, the text refers to the phemomena that take place in the soil, when the tree cover is lacking.

Earthworms swim around underground passing grit through their inner tracts, breaking down pebbles into loaming castings. Worms and mites, ants and springtails and nematodes and microbes. They do the work of chewing and churning, bringing minerals to the surface and moving organics downwards.

Their secretions dissolve rock. Over time these tiny beings make the dirt. Without the miniature life of the forest floor, the living matrix begin to unravel. Water must find new ways to flow through the ground, since there are no roots to drink it up and slow its progress downhill. Occasionally the running rain will sweep everything along in its path, all the way down to bedrock. Sometimes we plant these mudslides, too, nailing them with fast- growing alder.

I hope you have enjoyed this text. Best wishes. Graciela.