Soil profiles carry the signatures of climate, vegetation, parent material, and topography, written slowly into the earth, horizon by horizon. Within these layers linger the echoes of past climates, vanished landscapes, and the enduring traces of human care and use. Read with patience, a soil profile becomes a quiet chronicle of change, revealing not only what lies beneath our feet, but how it came to be, shaped over time by water, roots, organisms, and gravity. This book gathers more than 150 soil profile photographs by Roy Simonson (1908–2008), who worked most of his life for the American Soil Survey. Through decades of travel and fieldwork, he developed a rare ability to see and show the profile architecture of soils with clarity and grace. While most of the soil profiles in this volume come from the USA, the collection also presents 35 soil profiles from 11 other countries. Each soil profile is classified and accompanied by an interpretive text, landscape context, and, where available, excerpts from Roy Simonson’s travel notes. They invite the reader to pause, to look closely, and to discover soils as living records of the Earth’s long and patient history.

Alfred E. Hartemink was born in the Netherlands and is Professor of soil science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he teaches Pedology and Earth’s Soils. His work is guided by a long fascination with the soil profile—how it can be read, sensed, and understood—ranging from the use of proximal soil sensors to the stewardship of soil carbon in natural and agricultural landscapes. Alongside his scientific research, he has written on the intellectual currents that have shaped soil science, including Soil Science Americana (2021) and Pedology in the USA – Life and Works of C.C. Nikiforoff, 1886–1979 (2025).