Knowra Soil classification Soil classification Soil classification organizes soils into groups using measurable properties and inferred development. Systems differ in how they define, name, and map those groups.
Soil horizon : A layer of soil, roughly parallel to the land surface, distinguished by properties produced by soil formation. Horizon sequences provide much of the observable evidence used to classify a soil.
Soil survey : The systematic examination, description, classification, and mapping of soils across a landscape. Surveyors apply classification rules to observations collected at representative sites.
USDA Soil Taxonomy : The United States soil classification system organized into six hierarchical categorical levels. It is a widely used system with detailed diagnostic criteria and distinctive soil orders.
Land capability classification : A system that groups land by its limitations and suitability for particular uses, especially agriculture. It uses soil information to rate use constraints rather than name soil taxa.
Vasily Dokuchaev : A Russian geographer and geologist who developed foundational ideas about soil as a natural body shaped by environmental factors. His work helped establish soils as distinct bodies that could be systematically classified.
Soil profile : A vertical section of soil showing its horizons from the surface downward. Classification compares the arrangement and properties of horizons through a profile.
Soil taxonomy : A hierarchical system for naming and grouping soils according to defined diagnostic properties. It supplies explicit categories and rules for assigning a soil to a class.
World Reference Base for Soil Resources : An international soil classification system developed through the International Union of Soil Sciences. Its reference groups and qualifiers organize soils differently from USDA Soil Taxonomy.
Land evaluation : The assessment of land suitability for specified uses under defined environmental and economic conditions. Soil classes provide evidence for evaluating land uses and management options.
Hans Jenny : A soil scientist known for formalizing soil formation in relation to climate, organisms, relief, parent material, and time. His soil-forming factors explain why classification often incorporates inferred development.
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