What is Volcanic soil? What is difference between Volcanis ash and wood ash?

Question

What is Volcanic soil? What is difference between Volcanis ash and wood ash?

Answer 1

Volcanic ash is that of the earth.  Wood ash is, well, wood.  Volcanic soil is super rich in nutrients due to the nature of lava.  It's an amalgamation of all kinds of periodic elements usually full of iron and nickel.

Answer 2

The main reason is the rich volcanic soil. People are willing to take high-risk gambles for the most basic things of life -- especially food.

Close to an erupting volcano the short-term destruction by pyroclastic flows, heavy falls of ash, and lava flows can be complete, the extent of the damage depending upon the eruption magnitude. Crops, forests, orchards, and animals grazing or browsing on the volcano's slopes or surrounding lowland can be leveled or buried. But that is the short-term effect. In the long run, volcanic deposits can develop into some of the richest agricultural lands on earth.

One example of the effect of volcanoes on agricultural lands is in Italy. Except for the volcanic region around Naples, farming in southern Italy is exceedingly difficult because limestone forms the basement rock and the soil is generally quite poor. But the region around Naples, which includes Mount Vesuvius, is very rich mainly because of two large eruptions 35,000 and 12000 years ago that left the region blanketed with very thick deposits of tephra which has since weathered to rich soils. Part of this area includes Mount Vesuvius. The region has been intensively cultivated since before the birth of Christ. The land is planted with vines, vegetables, or flowers. Every square foot of this rich soil is used. For example, even a small vineyard will have, in addition to grapes and spring beans on the trellises, fava beans, cauliflower and onions between the trellis rows, and the vineyard margin rimmed with orange and lemon trees, herbs, and flowers. It also is a huge tomato growing region.

The verdant splendor and fertility of many farmlands of the North Island of New Zealand are on volcanic soils of different ages. Volcanic loams have developed on older (4,000 and 40,000 years old) volcanic ash deposits of the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions. Combined with ample rainfall, warm summers, and mild winters, these regions produce abundant crops, including the kiwifruit found around the world in modern recipes. The altered volcanic ashes are well-drained, yet hold water for plants, and are easily tilled. Deep volcanic loams are particularly good for pasture growth (there is a large New Zealand dairy industry), horticulture, and maize.

Life-forms on the Earth's surface exist primarily by consent of nature's partnership -- heat from the sun, and nutrients from rocks that have been decomposed and recombined into soluble molecules by chemical reactions with moisture and gases such as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The process is known as "chemical weathering." Chemical interactions of the atmosphere with rock release key elements from rock-forming minerals which are then accessible to growing things. Volcanic rocks make some of the best soils on earth because they not only have a wide variety of common elements the rock and are readily chemically separated into elemental components.

After the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980, people who were living downwind from the eruption were concerned that the ash that fell would be detrimental to the agricultural farmlands of eastern Washington. This concern was countered by a group of knowledgeble earth scientists. Volcanic ash can be considered as a time-release capsule, rich in nutrients.

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Volcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions,[1] less than 2 millimetres (0.079 in) in diameter. The violent nature of volcanic eruptions involving steam results in the magma and solid rock surrounding the vent being torn into particles of clay to sand size. Volcanic ash can lead to breathing problems, malfunctions in machinery, and from more severe eruptions, years of global cooling.

After falling to the ground after the eruption, the ash deposited on the ground becomes known as an ashfall. Some of this ashfall can become cemented together to form a solid rock called tuff. Over geologic time, the ejection of large quantities of ash will produce an ash cone. Significant accumulations of ashfall can lead to the immediate death of most of the local ecosystem, as well the collapse of roofs on man-made structures. Over time, ashfall can lead to the creation of fertile soils.

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woood ash is obtained by burning wood in the presence of air.

Fly ash is one of the residues generated in the combustion of coal. Fly ash is generally captured from the chimneys of power generation facilities, whereas bottom ash is, as the name suggests, removed from the bottom of the furnace. In the past, fly ash was generally released into the atmosphere via the smoke stack, but pollution control equipment mandated in recent decades now require that it be captured prior to release. It is generally stored on site at most US electric power generation facilities. Depending upon the source and makeup of the coal being burned, the components of the fly ash produced vary considerably, but all fly ash includes substantial amounts of silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2) (both amorphous and crystalline) and lime (calcium oxide, CaO). Fly ash is commonly used to supplement Portland cement in concrete production, where it can bring both technological and economic benefits, and is increasingly finding use in synthesis of geopolymers and zeolites.

Answer 3

Wood ash is a very caustic (high pH) material left behind from burning wood after the oxidizing fire has consumed and driven off all reactable material. It is mostly water soluble mineral hydroxides and is very reactive. If the wood is "clean" wood then the ash can be used to modify your garden soil if it has a low pH, but needs to be done with care. Volcanic soil and particulates evolve in a similar process but the material is more inert and much less water soluble. If it is fresh it need to be tested to make sure that water soluble chemicals are a known quantity and quality. It may be high in some items like sulfides or cause rapid swings in pH, and the probability exists, though small, that there are metals that may be a health issue. All volcanic ash is not the same. Volcanic soils, those that have some weathering and exposure to rains, have been proclaimed "gifts from God" in may places, but not in excess and after they have weathered some. The good and bad (lot of "be careful") are in links below.

Answer 4

Volcanic soil is formed with the addition of volcanic ash from volcanic eruption. It is a very mineral rich soil and grows good crops without the addition of much fertilizer. Adding organic matter to the soil as organic mulch or animal manure adds needed Nitrogen as well as improve the soil. Volcanic soil can be well weathered from years ago or resulting from more recent activity. Volcanic ash is ash resulting from melting, burning mineral matter. Wood ash is ash from burning organic matter. They both contain minerals, but the volcanic ash contains a much wider variety of minerals, and they are generally less available for immediate plant use.