Not lost.

Not finished.

Not even close to finished.

Still becoming.

The Soils That Aren’t There

Most ecosystems on Earth are built on soil.

Soil — the layer of mineral particles, organic matter, water, air, and living organisms that covers rock and enables most terrestrial plant growth — is so fundamental to the ecological systems we know that it is easy to forget how specifically evolved those systems are to soil-based conditions.

Roraima’s summit challenges that fundamental assumption.