VOLCANIC ASH BECOMING CLAY ON EARTH –

Minerals Fertilizing soils layers

~D ¥ [ N j C d A e

I learned this from living in active volcanic lands of 3 islands in Hawaii & visiting dozen other countries, most with some clay soil I saw many patterns. Then I grew this ‘rare’ theory of earth making clay from volcano ash, mentioned in only in 1 geology textbook of a dozen I’ve read to find earths source of making clay – called “geomorphism” how earth makes minerals.

The known source of hi mineral ash are 1000s of volcanic eruptions sending zillions of tons of ash clouds in winds & falling down, some blowing 1000s of miles away, even darkening sky & chilling climate. I believe that ash makes common & rare earth clay, in deep deposits, caves & scattered widely on lands blowing locally & hi downwind seen in layers of strata revealing aging with soil & sands; then washing like sediment down toward oceans. I’ve seen clay in tides coming & going from streams into bays.

That’s been found for centuries, & millennia clay used in pottery, sometimes knowing the source, even a nearby volcano, & seeing ash blowing & falling around. Or if clay diggers have tracked the volcano it came from to deposit there. I saw volcanic ash falling in Portland, OR after Mt.St. Helens erupted in May 1980. 1000s of tons of that ash flows down west in wet mud, & blew east falling on lands hurting & later fertilizing crops growing in ‘new’ mineral rich fertilized soils. The mineral in ash determine it fertility for lands it falls on, we can see its colors & feel textures. Heavy ash falls get buried & stay pure, with no soil, then are minded to use in pottery & other industrial process.

So colors & composition of ash – clays are extremely varied, commonly grey, red or tan, easily mixing with soils in wet tropical & temperate bioregions, effecting soil fertility with the minerals in clay directly on plants, roots, microbes, worms, fungus & composting in the soil, helping or hurting their whole cycles.

Some ash/clay is greatly valued for growing plants & making fertile soil, & some is toxic, depending on the minerals in the ash/clay composition. Each color: red, black, brown, yellow, tan, white, blue & green have different mineral combinations. Some native clay users know how to use their local & even imported ash/clay varieties in many ways.

Like I’ve seen vast red clay soil around & down wind from some volcanoes in Hawaii, 3 island, Guatemala, & Costa Rica, where we got lots of tan clay from mtn river bed to test out. Near the brie-brie Native Indian in hill country.

However the variety of ash/clay is extreme (infinite?) in mineral contents & fertility it adds or hurts soils it fall or flow onto in 1000s of bioregions. This approach to natural to ash/clay & soil fertility we often commonly use (for millennia) in ‘Perma- culture’ the ancient design science of organic homesteading in family farming systems integrated with local ecology, water flows, wildlife, soil fertility & human needs. Now Azomite clay with many trace minerals mined in Utah is widely used on farms in North American & elsewhere for soil fertilizer & animal feed needing hi minerals it contains.