A review of the world's soil museums and exhibitions
Journal
Advances in Agronomy
Journal Volume
166
Pages
277-304
Date Issued
2021
Author(s)
Richer-de-Forges A.C
Lowe, David J.
Minasny, Budiman
Adamo, Paola
Amato, Mariana
Ceddia, Marcos B.
dos Anjos, Lucia H.C.
Chang, Scott X.
Chen, Songchao
Feller, Christian
García-Rodeja, Eduardo
Goulet, Renée-Claude
Karklins, Aldis
Kim, Hyuck Soo
Leenaars, Johan G.B.
Levin, Maxine J.
Liu, Xiao-Nan
Maejima, Yuji
Mantel, Stephan
Martín Peinado, Francisco J.
Martínez Garzón, Francisco J.
Mataix-Solera, Jorge
Nikodemus, Oļģerts
Ortega, Carole
Ortiz-Bernad, Irene
Pedron, Fabrício A
Pinheiro, Erika Flávia M.
Reintam, Endla
Roudier, Pierre
Rozanov, Andrei B.
Sánchez Espinosa, Jorge Alberto
Savin, Igor
Shalaby, Mai
Sujatha, Mangalappilly P.
Sulaeman, Yiyi
Taghizadeh-Mehrjardi, Ruhollah
Tran, Tien M.
Valle, María Y.
Yang, Jae E.
Arrouays D.
Abstract
The soil science community needs to communicate about soils and the use of soil information to various audiences, especially to the general public and public authorities. In this global review article, we synthesis information pertaining to museums solely dedicated to soils or which contain a permanent exhibition on soils. We identified 38 soil museums specifically dedicated to soils, 34 permanent soil exhibitions, and 32 collections about soils that are accessible by appointment. We evaluate the growth of the number of museums since the early 1900s, their geographical distribution, their contents, and their attendance. The number of museums has been continuously growing since the early 1900s. A noticeable increase was observed from 2015 to 2019. Europe (in a geographical sense), Eastern and South-East Asia have the highest concentration of soil museums and permanent exhibitions related to soils. Most of the museums' attendance ranged from 1000 to 10,000 visitors per year. Russia has the largest number of soil monoliths exhibited across the world's museums, whereas the ISRIC-World Soil Museum has the richest and the most diverse collection of soil monoliths. Museums, collections, and exhibitions of soil play an important role in educating the population about this finite natural resource that maintains life on the planet, and for this reason, they must be increasingly supported, extended, and protected. ? 2021 Elsevier Inc.
Type
book part