Question

How do soils differ from sediments?

Answer 1

Hint: The basic and main difference between the sediment and the soil is in the manner in which they are usually deposited. One must also consider the soils parent materials and from where it comes. There are some mineral soils(inorganic) & there are some organic soils as well (decomposed plant and animal matter).

Complete answer:
Most soils that you will notice are a combination. Sediment is usually derived from the mineral parent material (rock or stone).
Sediments are then formed by water and the wind erosion as well as from the process of weathering due to sun heat. They then get collected after the disintegration and move with water or the wind from their source to other places. Soil is not only the decomposed sediments ( such as mica, kaolinite, clay, sand ) but also it consists of humus ( decomposed organic material such as leaves and other things).
Soils are generally quite complex & form when rock gets weathered in the presence of oxygen. The rock gets slowly broken down by the process of oxidation, freeze-thaw cycles, biological activity, and the chemicals leaching through the rock.
Sediments is, when weathering of rock occurs & erosion and transportation remove the rock particles and then transport them to somewhere else. Once they are deposited "somewhere else" we call it then a "sediment". Sediments are usually found in lakes, rivers, sand dunes, beaches, & in the ocean. pic. If sediments get buried deep enough and if they undergo compaction and cementation, they then turn into "sedimentary rock".

Note: Soils generally require time and a stable ground surface for developing. Sediments, on the other hand, are the particles which are transported by water or wind or, most often on the mountaintop, by people. So deposits of sediment is the result of movement, while soil profiles develop in the absence of movement.