Soil exhibit

Please note that this exhibit is currently closed.
Enter the Root Dome to meet Brown Gold, the living Skin of the Earth. Discover hidden tales from the Underground with this exhibit that is just outside the Core building and part of our wider Invisible Worlds exhibition.
Narrative from the exhibit
Brown Gold, living skin of the Earth
Dirt to gold
Soil: It’s not until it grows your first lettuce or rose, is magnified to reveal its secrets or lamented by its loss that it becomes revered.
A precious resource
Soil: The ultimate blend of rock, water, air, the dead and the living, supports life on land.
It is our mineral nutrient supplier, water reservoir and climate regulator.
Under your feet
A complex living soil community – from microbes to mini beasts – mine the rocks, recycle the dead, feed, protect and support the plants and construct an extraordinary environment in which they all live. Healthy soil has good structure with transport networks, air conditioning, reservoirs, food banks, even communication systems: an invisible underground ‘city’.
Healthy soil, healthy plant, healthy food, healthy you.
Lead scientific advisor: Becky Willson, Research Leader, Duchy College Rural Business School