Historical development in soil micromorphological imaging

The book “micropedolog” by Kubieana and a large number of publications has induced many people to practice soil micromorphology. Quantification of the soil fabric and its components was a major challenge. The use of the image analyses in soil science was a breakthrough. Attempts to make soil thin sections go back to the beginning of the 20^th century. Microscopic techniques and recently high resolution electron microscope and use of computer assisted imaging techniques enabled the in vitro study of soils in three dimensional levels. It is now possible to store and process massive amounts of data. Micromorphological concepts and techniques are applied in paleopedological, ecological, and archaeological studies. The aim of this work was to examine soil micromorphological imaging in historical perspective.