Printed from smellbook.com/smells/soil. This printout keeps the entry for Soil itself: its description, reference card, Connections, questions, evidence, related smells, record details, states, names and citation. It leaves out your own notes, the map, the lists of paths, routes, stories and fragrance directions, and the lists headed “Also linked to” (other entries that share its place or material) and “Linked from”; they are on the page online. The entries this one links to are still printed under Connections and Related smells.
Categories and types group entries for browsing; they are editorial, not evidence. How smells are grouped.
Earthy, damp and organic impressions associated with exposed ground and garden soil.
Its type, Source, means the smell is named after “a physical origin that can contribute a smell”; it is not an evidence source, such as a study or a book.
Soil smells earthy, damp and dark, with a mineral note and a rich organic depth. EDITORIAL
Named in the VERIFIED claims about this smell: not a list of what it is made of, and not its cause.
This entry links to
Other entries that link to this one
Links SmellBook records for this entry: where you meet it, molecules, related smells and comparisons. EDITORIAL links are chosen by SmellBook editors and VERIFIED links come from VERIFIED claims. Nothing here is a ranking, and a molecule is not presented as the cause of the smell.
QUESTIONS ABOUT SOIL
Soil smells earthy, damp and dark, with a mineral note and a rich organic depth. Dry soil is faint and dusty; moist soil is fuller, cooler and more rounded, almost sweet. Turning it over brings a sudden rush of smell that settles again within minutes. It is close to the smell of mushrooms and wet forest floor, though usually less savoury.
People meet it when digging a garden bed, repotting plants, walking across a forest floor, or passing a freshly ploughed field. It is often most noticeable when the ground is damp and has just been worked.
Typical settings: garden bed, forest floor, freshly turned earth.
SmellBook links it to 2 place pages: see them in Connections.
2 VERIFIED scientific claims from 3 published sources are recorded for this entry: Petrichor and rain on dry ground and Geosmin and the odour of moist soil. Each claim says only what its source supports, in the scope shown with it; one of them could not be checked against the source's own words, because no abstract or other summary was available, and is marked below.
One molecule is named in one of these claims, Geosmin and the odour of moist soil; see the evidence for the role the claim gives it. The molecule this claim names has only the role the claim states; one molecule is not the whole smell.
Soil can smell very different depending on moisture, vegetation and local material; this is a broad human-facing profile.
SmellBook records 4 written comparisons with other smells: see them in Connections.
Words that are easy to mix up: What is the difference between earthy and mineral? and Is metallic the same as mineral?
No historical source or heritage record is linked to this entry yet.
Answers marked EDITORIAL are written by SmellBook editors to describe the experience and add no scientific fact. Answers marked VERIFIED point to claims on published sources, checked against each source's own summary where one was available (each claim's page says how); what each claim supports is in its own text and scope.
Scientific evidence · 2 claims
How it is described or perceived
VERIFIED means the claim rests on a registered published source whose citation SmellBook checked. No abstract or other summary of that source was available, so SmellBook could not compare the claim's wording with the source's own words.
Petrichor and rain on dry ground
The scientific literature has used the term petrichor for the characteristic earthy odour associated with rain acting on dry mineral and soil environments.
Historical scientific framing of petrichor; this does not mean every rainy environment has one identical chemical profile.
How this was found: Broad account. A broad statement about how an aroma forms, how it is studied or what a term means, rather than one measurement. Source: primary study.
I. J. Bear & R. G. Thomas
DOI 10.1038/201993a0Geosmin and the odour of moist soil
The earthy-smelling substance geosmin, isolated from several actinomycetes, is described by biochemical research on the soil organism Streptomyces coelicolor as responsible for the characteristic odour of moist soil.
Laboratory cultures and a study of the enzyme that makes geosmin; the 2007 study states the link to soil odour as background and did not test it, and neither source measured the air above soil or which other compounds contribute to its smell.
Also covers: chemistry reported (the claim names compounds or kinds of compounds).
How this was found: Broad account. A broad statement about how an aroma forms, how it is studied or what a term means, rather than one measurement. Source: primary study.
N. N. Gerber & H. A. Lechevalier
DOI 10.1128/am.13.6.935-938.1965Jiaoyang Jiang, Xiaofei He & David E. Cane
DOI 10.1038/nchembio.2007.29Each molecule is named by the claim shown after it. This molecule has only the role the claim states; one molecule is not the whole smell. About molecules in SmellBook
Links chosen by SmellBook editors, not a ranking.
Associations can vary strongly by person, place and culture.
PATHS FROM HERE
Each step is a relationship SmellBook editors recorded in the knowledge graph, named as it is published there. Paths are not ranked or personalised, and they do not mean the smells smell alike.
MY SMELLBOOK · LOCAL ONLY
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MAP THIS SMELL
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WHERE THIS SMELL APPEARS
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FROM SMELLBOOK STORIES
Editorial pieces add place, memory and cultural context without changing this entry.
Rain changes the air, the ground and what nearby materials release. The result can feel bigger than any one smell identity.
Read ↗PLACE SERIES · 2026-09-16A city route after rainWet pavement, stone, soil pockets and cleaned air create a temporary version of the city that disappears as surfaces dry.
Read ↗FOR RESEARCHERS AND EDITORS
Identity, revision history, corrections and how to cite Soil.
CULTURAL: This entry's associations depend on context, language, memory or culture; its description and smell words are editorial. It says nothing about research or historical evidence; evidence for this entry is shown separately: VERIFIED.
A state says how an entry is met, such as wet, aged or roasted. It does not create a new smell, and it adds no scientific fact by itself: states marked EDITORIAL come from the entry's own records, and only those marked VERIFIED are reported by a VERIFIED claim.
How this entry is identified and named, for citing it or matching it with other records.
SmellBook SB-0013 — Soilsmellbook:smell:soilhttps://smellbook.com/smells/soilSmellBook. (2026). Soil (revision 4, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:soil. https://smellbook.com/smells/soil@misc{smellbook_soil_r4,
author = {{SmellBook}},
title = {Soil},
year = {2026},
note = {SmellBook Public Atlas, revision 4, 2026-10-06, smellbook:smell:soil},
url = {https://smellbook.com/smells/soil}
}TY - ENCYC ID - smellbook-soil-r4 TI - Soil AU - SmellBook T2 - SmellBook Public Atlas PY - 2026 DA - 2026/10/06 ET - revision 4 UR - https://smellbook.com/smells/soil N1 - SB-0013; smellbook:smell:soil; resolver https://smellbook.com/id/smell/soil ER -
The citation names revision 4 of 2026-10-06, so a reader can tell exactly which version was cited. Citing records what was read; it does not grant a licence.
Soil can smell very different depending on moisture, vegetation and local material; this is a broad human-facing profile.
Other entries whose editors linked to Soil:
Editorial description expanded to answer what it smells like and where you meet it; independently reviewed.
Created 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-10-06Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since the first of three dataset releases of 2026-09-30.
No correction notices published for this entry. Corrections policyEVIDENCE MATTERS
SmellBook separates cultural association, community perception, verified evidence, prediction and experimental relationships rather than presenting them as the same thing. Read the evidence guide ↗ See the evidence coverage report ↗