During the process of decomposition, water-soluble inorganic nutrients go down into the soil horizon and get precipitated as unavailable salts. This specific step is known as:

Step-by-step solution

Decomposition involves several steps: fragmentation, leaching, catabolism, humification, and mineralisation. According to NCERT, by the process of leaching, water-soluble inorganic nutrients go down into the soil horizon and get precipitated as unavailable salts. Catabolism is the bacterial and fungal enzymatic degradation of detritus into simpler inorganic substances. Mineralisation is the release of inorganic nutrients due to the degradation of humus by microbes. Humification is the accumulation of a dark-coloure