Michelle Williams may refer to different people:
Humus
Humus (or humous) is the organic matter in the soil. It is made of dead parts of plants and animals. Humus takes in water and has plenty of nutrients. Nitrogen is the most important. Plants put roots into the soil to get the water and nutrients. Humus is good for plants because it is like a sponge.
The dark colour of humus (usually black or dark brown) helps to warm up cold soils in the spring.
When plants and insects die they are first raw organic matter. Bacteria and fungi eat the raw material, but they do not eat all of it. They leave a small amount behind. The part they leave behind is named "humus". This activity is dynamic and keeps happening. There is always more dead material arriving on top. So the soil always has organic material in it, along with small pieces of rock.
In agriculture, "humus" usually means mature compost, or some taken naturally from a forest, where it may have lived for many years.
Soil science
Soil science deals with soil as a natural resource on the surface of the earth.
It includes soil formation, classification and mapping.
But many more sciences deal with knowledge of soils and the advancement of the soil sciences: engineering, agronomists, chemistry, geology, geography, biology, microbiology, sylviculture, public health, archaeology, and regional planning.
"Soil" refers to anything between the top of the dirt and the top of the underlying rock (called "bedrock"). Soil is often broken into layers. The top layer is high in organic matter (roting plants and such). Then there is a layer of layer of soil where rain water has removed some metals (called "leaching"). Those metals get collected in another, lower layer. Finally, there is a layer made up mostly of broken bits of bedrock. A soil can have all of these layers, or only a few.
Soils are important because most groundwater, which is used in everything from city water supplies to farming, is found in soil, not bedrock.
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel (postnominal QC), during the reign of a male sovereign known as King's Counsel (KC), are senior lawyers in various Commonwealth countries.
They are appointed by letters patent to be one of "Her Majesty's Counsel learned in the law". They are not a separate type of lawyer. They are more than long serving lawyers, because their status is given by the Crown and recognised by the courts.
Queen's Counsel have the privilege of sitting within the Bar of court, and wear silk gowns of a special design (hence the informal title Silks). The special robes are the reason why becoming a QC is often called "taking silk".
In order to "take silk" a lawyer usually has to serve as a barrister or a Scottish advocate for at least 10 years. Recently solicitors have also been appointed Queen's Counsel.
A QC's status means they generally charge higher fees than ordinary barristers, and always have another barrister as an assistant. This assistant is called a "junior" even if the junior has been a lawyer longer than the "silk".
Pedogenesis
Pedogenesis or soil evolution (formation) is the process by which soil is formed.
Climate regulates soil formation. Soils are more developed in areas with higher rainfall and more warmth.
The rate of chemical weathering increases by 2-3 times when the temperature increases by 10 degrees Celsius (20 °F).
Climate also affects which organisms are present, affecting the soil chemically and physically (movement of roots, burrowing by animals).
The organisms living in and on the soil form distinct soil types. Coniferous forests have acidic leaf litter. Mixed or deciduous forests leave a larger layer of humus. Prairies have very high humus accumulation, creating a dark, thick soil.
The rock from which soil is formed is called 'parent material' (bedrock).
The main types are: eolian (wind), glacial material, alluvium, lake material other parent materials.
Pedogenesis is the major topic of the science of pedology. Its other aspects include the soil morphology, classification (taxonomy) of soils, and their distribution in nature.
11 (number)
11 (eleven or ) is a number. It comes between ten and twelve, is an odd number, and is a prime number, after 2, 3, 5, and 7.
12 (number)
Twelve is a number. It comes between eleven and thirteen, and it is an even number. It is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12. Its ordinal is 12th (twelfth). In Roman numerals, it is written as XII. It is the base of duodecimal numbers.
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are rocks formed from sediment. They are deposited over time, and often show layers which can be seen in cliffs. Other types of rock are igneous rock and metamorphic rock.
Sediments are usually formed from matter which falls to the bottom of oceans and lakes. The matter includes tiny pieces of other rocks, and dead animals, plants and microorganisms. Also, inorganic chemicals may be precipitated from solution in the water. The three most common sedimentary rocks are limestone, sandstone and shale.
Sedimentary rocks cover 7580% of the Earth's land area, but they make up only 5% of the Earth's crust. The relative abundances of the different types of sedimentary rocks are:
Squeezed and compressed over time, the sediments become 'consolidated' (made solid) into layers of rock. Stratigraphy is the study of those layers
Cementation occurs when dissolved mineral components deposit in the interstices of sediments. It is the sticking together of sediment that forms a rock.
Otherwise, rocks may have the water squeezed out, yet remain for long periods with their character unchanged. There are many quarries of unconsolidated deposits where sand and gravel are removed for the construction industry. Such quarries may be taking out sand which has lasted as sand since the Jurassic period. But consolidated sand, sandstone, can be a very hard rock.
Consolidated rocks may be changed some more, by water seeping through, or by heat and extreme pressure.
Sediments are formed by three processes:
These sedimentary processes – weathering, transportation, and deposition – reach three final end products: quartz sand, shale (from clay), and limestone (CaCO). Most sedimentary rocks are variations on this general pattern.
Chalk, limestone, and dolomite are all basically made from calcium carbonate. This comes from a mixture of minerals and pieces of animals (especially animal shells). They are mostly formed in oceans.
Shales, sandstones, and conglomerates are all clastic rocks. They are made from pieces of other rocks. The pieces may have come from erosion by water, ice or wind.
Coal is made from ancient plants; oil and natural gas is also organic in origin.
Some sedimentary rocks are made of just one type of sediment, all about the same size, such as sand. Other sedimentary rocks will have large and small lumps, and pieces of different types of rock. Well-known sedimentary rocks are sandstone and limestone.
Sedimentary rocks may be found anywhere on Earth. When sedimentary rocks are heated and squeezed, they become metamorphic rocks. Igneous rocks have a volcanic origin. Over a very long time, rocks get recycled, in two ways. When marine sediments are raised above sea level, they get weathered, and the pieces carried down to the sea. On a much longer time-scale continental plates may collide. Then one plate goes under the other (is subducted), and all its material is recycled, emerging much later.
14 (number)
Fourteen is a number. It is between 13 and 15. It is an even number. It is divisible by 1, 2, 7, and 14.
In Roman numerals, 14 is written as XIV.
Rock (geology)
A rock is a naturally occurring solid. It is made of minerals (which are crystalline), or other mineral-like substances. The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. That means the Earth's crust is made of rock. The different minerals in the rocks make different kinds of rock.