what is a horizontal layer of soil is call?
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They are called horizons.  The top inch or so is the top soil, the next 15 inches is the subsoil and then you come to the parent material.
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Steno's Principles\nOriginal horizontality- Strata was orginally deposited horizontally in layers due to gravity.\nOriginal Lateral Continuity- Strata will continue until it tapers off or hits the edge of a basin.\nCross-cutting Relationship- The intrusive strata is younger than the strata they cut through.\n\nIncluded fragments- Inclusions are older than its host rock.\nFossil Correlation- If same fossil assemblages in similar rocks than rocks the same ages.
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The actual K/T boundary layer lies between the cretaceous and tertiary sediments in the sedimentary rock deposits. According to Alan R. Hildebrand (1992), the layer is similar all around the world and has an inner structure of two layers. The upper layer is known as the "Fireball layer" and is in average 3mm thick. Its thickness is the same around the globe, and thus it must have been dispersed quite quickly (within 2-3 months). It represents 1500 cubic kilometres of debris deposited globally. The lower layer, named the "Ejecta layer", averages about 2cm in thickness. The layers are mostly made of clay, with some soot in the upper parts.
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http://natres.psu.ac.th/Link/SoilCongress/bdd/symp9/1375-t.pdf
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horizontal is left to right \nvertical is up and down
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Gardening is the term for the way regolith (dirt-dust) on the moon and other dead, airless worlds forms.  A constant barrage of micrometeorites (ones that would burn up in the earth's atmopshere) break-up and churn up the top layers of lunar (or mercury's or an asteroid's) rock so that it is reduced to a fine, talcum-like powder (only very, very abrasive).  This process is called "gardening," and is one type of space weathering of rock.
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Soil absorbs moisture. It has small openings and the water gets in the small holes. The cohesion and adhesion of the water constitute a force that keeps the water in the soil, to a certain extent.
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Technically they do have soil. Just different kinds.\n\nSoil type is based mostly on texture & composition.\n\nSome deserts have loose sandy soil. Others have desert "pavement" which is essentially hard compacted soil.\n\nThere are 3 major types of soils under which all other subsoils fall. Pedocals are those soils found in the desert & other arid places. It is high in calcite b/c of lack of water filtering through the soil.\n\nThe other two are laterite which is found in humid tropical places that is high in iron oxide & pedalfers which are found in temperate climates. Like I said there are more but these are the main three types.
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Its called the understory layer but they often build nests close to the ground.
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Soil is the material on the surface of a lithosphere subject to weathering, and especially the earthy portion of that material.\n\nSoil components\n\n    * Composition -- A typical surface soil is half solids and half voids or porosity. Water and air are thus integral components of soils. Water occupies the void space between soil particles and is held by surface tension on particle surfaces. Air occupies the remaining void space. Both water and air components of soils are important to plant growth and other life in the soil profile of a particular ecosystem\n    * Soil texture -- refers to soil grain size, sand = 2 to 0.02 or 0.05 mm; silt = 0.02 or 0.05 to 0.002 mm; clay = <0.002 mm. Soil texture influences available water capacity and movement, fertility, and workability or "tilth". "Loam" is a name for one of various mixtures of these three particle sizes. The ratio of these particles determines soil texture classification.\n    * Soil structure -- the arrangement of soil particles into aggregates, which may have various shapes, sizes and degrees of development or expression. Soil structure influences aeration, water movement, erosion resistance, and root penetration.\n    * Slope -- the inclination of the ground surface. Slope influences runoff of rainfall, soil erosion, stability, and machinery operation.\n    * Soil color -- Soil color often indicates soil moisture status and is used for determining hydric soils. Often described using general terms, such as dark brown, yellowish brown, etc., soil colors are also described more technically by using Munsell soil color charts, which separate color into components of hue (relation to red, yellow and blue), value (lightness or darkness) and chroma (paleness or strength).\n    * Soil chemistry -- A complex subject within soil science; the most important subjects are:\n\n        Soil pH -- The acidity or alkalinity of soils, which affects plant growth and soil fertility.\n        Cation Exchange Capacity -- The soil's ability to retain and exchange positively charged ions, which include major plant nutrients.\n        Reduction and oxidation (Redox) reactions are also important.\n\n    * The soil profile -- A vertical cut that exposes soil layering or soil horizons. Horizons are formed by combined biological, chemical and physical alterations. A, B, and C symbols are used to describe the topsoil, subsoil and substratum, respectively.\n    * Permeability -- The ability of a soil to transmit water or air. Faster or greater permeability often occurs in sandy or gravelly soils due to large pore spaces. Slower permeability typically occurs in finer textured clay soils, or compacted soils with little structure.\n    * Drainage -- The rate in which water is removed from a soil. Drainage influences most uses of soils, whether for agriculture, silviculture or urban. Classes of soil drainage are those found in soil survey reports, such as well drained, moderately well drained, somewhat poorly drained, poorly drained, and very poorly drained. Soil color patterns (such as mottle patterns or redoximorphic features) often indicate soil drainage class. The most productive agricultural soils are typically well drained or moderately well drained, as are the soils easiest to develop for urban use. By contrast, hydric soils are poorly or very poorly drained. A soil's natural drainage rate can be significantly increased by subsurface "tile" drainage.\n    * Soil biology -- Soils serve as habitats for soil organisms varying in size from microorganisms to small animals. The character of soils is intricately tied to bioturbation and the biochemical functions performed by soil organisms. The soil is home to a large proportion of the world's genetic diversity, which changes by soil type: desert soils (like aridisols) generally have more complex soil biotic communities and genetic diversity than tropical soils (like oxisols).\n    * Soil smell -- earthy odor
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I think this guy is talking about bentonite.  It's an expanding, ultra-low permeability clay that comes in pellets or chips (dry, of course).  We use it in the environmental business to seal between groundwater layers.
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Permafrost--\n\n\nIn geology, permafrost or permafrost soil is a thermal condition where ground material stays at or below 0°C for two or more years. The presence of ice is not necessary, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts excess of the potential hydraulic saturation of the ground material. Most permafrost is located in high latitudes (e.g. North and South poles), but alpine permafrost exists at high altitudes.\n\nThe extent of permafrost can vary as the climate changes. Today, approximately 20% of the Earth's land mass is covered by permafrost (including discontinuous permafrost) or glacial ice. Overlying permafrost is a the layer of ground called the active layer that seasonally thaws during the summer. Plant life can be supported only within the active layer because growth can occur only in soil that is fully thawed for some part of the year. Thickness of the active layer varies by year and location but is typically 0.6 - 4 m (2 to 12 feet) thick. In areas of continuous permafrost and harsh winters the depth of the permafrost can be very great: 440m (1330 feet) at Barrow, Alaska, (600m (1970 feet) at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, up to 726m (2382 feet) in the Canadian Arctic islands and as much as 1493m (4510 feet) in the northern Lena and Yana River basins in Siberia.
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Cool and important to know!\n\nWeak soils just means earth which can't support much of a load. In some cases it is because the soil is not hard-packed. Or sometimes it is what the soil, is made from, sand, loam, peat, mud, clay, gravel, or just too much water.\n\nWhen a certain type of quake hits a weak soil, it can cause it to sort of liquefy like quick-sand. Landslides can happen on a sloping area. And anything built on it is badly damaged or partially sinks. Hey it's like building a card house on a water bed and then sitting on the edge  of the bed. Kablam! No more card house.\n\nCheck out the Google links below to see the devastation of weak soil liquefaction.
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The vadose zone, also termed the unsaturated zone, is the portion of Earth between the land surface and the water table, and is thus not considered groundwater ("vadose" is Latin for "shallow"). It comprises the unsaturated portion of the soil, regolith or bedrock, as well as the unsaturated portion of the capillary fringe above the water table. The pore spaces in the vadose zone are subject to atmospheric pressure, and so the water is held to the regolith and rock by adhesion (funiculary groundwater), and in pore spaces by capillary action (capillary groundwater). If the vadose zone envelops soil, the water contained therein is termed soil moisture.\n\nMovement of water within the vadose zone is studied within hydrology, particularly hydrogeology, and is of importance to agriculture, contaminant transport, and flood control.\n\n "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadose_zone"
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It's known as "grout".  It may feel gritty because it contains sand.
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I only know of cross-bedding. Cross bedding - stratification inclined to the original horizontal surface upon which the sediment accumulated. It is produced by deposition on the slope of a dune or sand wave.
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The ground of course.  They have come up through the soil to your compost.