Soil Classification - Science topic

How can we diagnose the soil in the laboratory through its appearance that it is fertile or not fertile without conducting an analysis on it?

I need literature on this subject.

soil health and soil quality

Thank you

Since long we have been using different extractants containing dilute acids/alkalies,weak/strong acids , buffered salt solutions etc.Also specialized methods based on cation and anion resins,electro-ultra-filtration and incubation methods.It appears to me that not much attention is paid to develop a good method to represent plant root action on soil and serve as a good method of  plant - available soil nutrients .So based on current knowledge, what is the best method to represent plant- available soil nutrients  for use in soil testing laboratories?

Hi All,

I am working on classification of soils in agriculture fields. I am looking for the soil images data set to classify.

Could someone please suggest me where to find these data sets.

I want to download the LU/LC and Soil data of Netravathi and Gurpur river basin from Bhuvan. I want the procedure to download it.......

Is there a scientific paper/document that classifies and correlates soil erosion using the SPT/CPT?

I am facing a challenge with the classification of my soil data in order to help create the usersoil database. My soil data was developed using the USDA classification system but I now have to convert it to the FAO code so as to match those provided in the SWAT2012 database to help generate the usersoil table. Could someone explain to me what the second and last numbers  in the code are and where I can obtain it. E.g Af32-2ab-3, Be49-3c-20

The first letters represents the dominant soils, Ferric Acrisol (Af) or  Eutric Cambisol (Be), the third figure is the soil texture class (1-coarse, 2-medium, 3-fine), the small leters indicate the slope class (a- level to undulating; b- rolling to hilly; c-steeply dissected to mountainous)

What does the second figure of 32 or 49 and the last figure of 3 or 20  represent in the code and where can I obtain them?

Secondly, is there an alternative way to create the usersoil table without using the FAO database, could anyone kindly share any useful resources in this regard?  

Thanks in advance!

Regards,

Brian

Professor Nicolae Florea, our former colleague, was celebrated by the Romanian Academy on his 100th birthday.

During the homage session, held on June 7, Professor Nicolae Florea was praised for his merits as head of the school of soil classification and mapping, for capitalizing of information on soil and environmental resources in Romania and for his contribution to the development of Romanian education, to the training of specialists in the field of soil science.

Our institute expresses its respect for professor Nicolae Florea for the evolution of the concept about soil in Romanian pedology and for his entire scientific activity within the institute.

#research #soil_science #Nicolae_Florea

Hello,

My thesis is about unsaturated soils and determining the stress-deformation of the embedded stone columns. The soil sample is silty sand without plasticity and it's categorized as SM in the unified soil classification system.

I have studied some papers about Barcelona basic model but I think that this constitutive model is suitable for fine soils like clays and not for sands.

My main question is how can I model unsaturated soils with the variable modulus of elasticity in PLAXIS 3D

i need the soil classification map for scs curve number modelling..where can i download the map from?

Soil classification

Particle size distribution (PSD) aka soil texture is a major feature to understand soils.

Sand, silt and clay classes of mineral particles are so commonly used that they become part of the everyday landscape of agronomists, farmers and others.

However,

Why such size limits have been placed between these categories?

Is there a reason?

In addition, different countries may have different PSD classes (eg., 50 µm or 63 µm between silts and sands).

On which scientific basis has this been made?

To follow up on that,

Don't you think that a more modern approach to soil texture characterisation would be more helpful by measuring soil PSd on a continuous scale? rather than splitting between sand, silt and clays.

Indeed, two soil with the same PSD (lets say 30% sand, 30% silt and 40% clay) could be very different.

Within sands, particles could all be towards th coarse side, or conversely towards the fine side.

Same reasoning for the other classes.

Without solid reasons (physical perhaps?) to set the boundaries between sands, silts and clays, that system seems a bit arbitrary and old-fashioned, isn't it?

Shouldn't it be more useful to represent the frequency distribution of particles on a continuous scale to give a more precise picture of the actual texture of a soil.

New techniques such as laser diffraction seem to be useful to this end, and could give a more representative image of the distribution of the size of soil's mineral particles.

Futhermore, current method to determine soil PSD using sieving and sedimentation is extremely long and prone to errors in measurements.

Any thoughts on this?

Dear all.

Do you know something on the journal papers or other publications treating on the issue predicting or assessing the existence of soil units (e.g. types, orders or suborders, reference groups) in delimitations used on elder soil maps, which were prepared on the base of older versions of soil classification systems?

I know that actually the unique highly confident resolution of this problem is to make a soil survey again. However it is difficult to do it again at large scale in any country... so we try to prepare a kind of correlation of old map legend with new version of soil classification and than verify it....

Thank for any answer, Michał

I have rainfall data for the last 30yrs, and Soil Textural classfication data for the study area (field methods, 2018). I would like to clacluate the soil erosion for my study area. My query is that, how can we interpolate the erosion risk by examining the annual rainfall data for the last 30 yrs and soil classification data for this year. How can we correlate both?

I need soil erodibility (K) factor values assigned to soil type according FAO soil classification for the evaluation of soil loss using RUSLE. Thank You.

I am working on a project to develop a regional "Electronic Geotechnical data base? I have done Boring in mesh grid pattern. Grid size is 20 km 20 km. Now to interpolate , Engineering Soil Classification within the grid i need to define certain parameters which can be obtained without any physical work as no budget is available for it. any GIS based Solution , Remote sensing technique , geological map of the area is available.

I often hear that soil types have an inherent fertility.

They are often compared : "this soil type is very fertile, while this one is less"...

However, it seems to me that local conditions may greatly influence the fertility of a given soil.

On what basis do we judge the fertility of soils on the "type" level?

I am using FAO soil lookup table for my study area in china to run ArcSWAT 2012. It is not linking with model. I need USDA based soil classification.

Or can anybody help me to find out the issue? I need help in this regard. Thank you.

The soil-water ratios (1: 5 and 1: 2.5) are often used for pH and EC. Can I use the same soil classification, knowing that the pH has a logarithmic variation?

Thanks.

Dear colleagues,

We are seeking your support in developing pedotransfer functions to estimate  parameters in infiltration equations (e.g. Philip equation but eventually also other equations and parametrizations) from infiltration experiments. What we would need are the original infiltration data (cumulative infiltration versus time) and the corresponding soil properties (e.g. texture, carbon content, bulk density, …) including soil structural properties or taxonomic information if available. Any metadata describing the experimental data in more detail are welcomed. Data may stem from lab scale, plot, field and catchment scale experiments. We are planning to establish a database of these data that we will submit to  a data journal (e.g. Earth System Data Science).  Up to now we have collected about 350 infiltration curves with corresponding soil properties. Yet we are not covering all relevant textural classes and possible ranges of soil properties. In order to honor your support we would like to include you as co-author on the manuscript. We hope that you contribute to this initiative and welcome any questions you might have.

Best regards

Mehdi Rahmati, mehdirmti@gmail.com

Harry Vereecken

Accordingly, the permeability index is classified under class 1 (>75%), class

11(25-75%) and class 111(<75%) orders. Class 1 and class 11 waters are

categorised as good for irrigation with 75% or more of maximum permeability.

Class 111 waters are unsuitable with 25% of maximum permeability.

Generally the saline soils are classified taking into account the values at saturation extract  ECe as EC<4 dS/m (Non saline) to EC>16 dS/m (Highly saline).

In India, mostly agricultural institutes and reclamation bodies like CSSRI, Karnal, DIRD, Pune follow saline soil classification based on  soil dilution extract as EC (1:2 or 1:2.5) as EC<1 (No saline) and EC>3 (highly saline). But still I could not find any authentic document  apart from website reference of DIRD (http://www.dird-pune.gov.in/MethodologyDemarcation.htm) and IS code 5510:1969 (very old) about classification being followed in India. 

Can any body direct me to proper source other than "journal paper" for saline soil classification based on EC 1:2 dilution ratio. A proper source of EC 1:2 classification will be highly appreciated.

------------------------------------------------

Alternatively I can use USDA salinity lab staff classification is based on ECe by converting EC1:2 to ECe by suitable factor. This factor affects severely based on texture and and salinity class (EC1:2) (non saline to highly saline. Also, if applied as such, has to be evidenced by very laborious vacuum extraction equipment I do not have. 

I want to compare two soil maps with 6 soil classes.

Each class has an integer number from (1; 2;...;6).

My purpose of is to obtain:

i. General Kappa, Kappa location, Kappa histo, and

ii. Fuzzy Kappa

I have attempted Map Comparison Kit (MCK) available on http://mck.riks.nl/.

The problem is that when I import my files into the MKC, it displayed the

integer number as decimal MCK. e.g. 0.0 - 0.8; 0.8-1.7; 1.7-2.5; 2.5-3.3;

3.3-4.2; 4.2-5 instead of having the classes as 1;2;3;4;5;6. When I specify

“categorical” in the MCK legend editor it didn´t change the display to 1;2;3;4;5;6.

With the legend editor one could affect integer number to these class interval

( 1=0.0 - 0.8; 2=0.8-1.7; 3=1.7-2.5; 4=2.5-3.3; 5=3.3-4.2; 6=4.2-5) but it changes completely the spatial distribution of the soil classes as compared to the original map.

Does anyone has an idea how I can import my data in such a way to have it as integer number as in the original and not as decimal? or any other software which can help me achieve the

same purpose?

In the US soil classification, major criteria of an argillic horizon are particle size distribution relative to an overlying horizon and either clay skins on ped surfaces or oriented clay occupying 1% or more of the cross section. On many occasions Indian pedologists while working in the micaceous IGP soils of the north-western IGP have however, experienced clay-enriched textural B-horizons but found no identifiable clay skins by a 10X hand lens.  According to the US Soil Taxonomy, the clay illuviation process results in optically oriented pure void argillans. However, in IGP soils translocation of the fine clay particles results in textural pedofeatures of the ‘impure’ clay pedofeatures’ as a typical pedofeatures.  Criteria of clay skins and pure clay pedofeatures (i.e. void argillans) for argillic horizon of the US Soil Taxonomy become incompatible in most of the Indian SAT soils. Indian pedologists have proved that while the presence of clay skins and pure clay pedofeatures is a clear evidence of illuviation, the absence of clay skins and presence of impure clay pedofeatures, does not necessarily mean that there has been no clay illuviation in the uniform parent material on a stable and more than 2500 year old geomorphic surface as the major pedogenic process under SAT climates.  In view of the fulfillment of the textural requirement of a Bt horizon for such loamy IGP soils, would it be prudent to waive the clay skins criterion for applying the precise and unambiguous definitions of soil taxa? I invite my fellow pedologists for their valuable comments/suggestions.

Does anyone know a way to convert the World Reference Base for Soil Resources classification to the hydrological soil group? In particular I would need a conversion table to SWAT soil classification

I would like to study soils in a defined geographic region in India. I plan to collect soil samples from different locations and analyse fertility parameters: pH, CEC, electric conductivity, 12 plant available nutrients, water holding capacity... Further classify soils with respect to fertility status. 

1)  I can take 100 samples or 1000 samples.. However excess number of samples has implications of cost and time.. Less number of samples would lead to insufficient basis for classification. How do I find appropriate number of sampling points required for such classification.

My activity so far: At field visit, farmers usually indicate that there are 4 - 6 different soils around their village (the nomenclature is more or less similar in other villages).

Likewise I visited 7 villages across 5 subdistricts and collected samples from each of these soil types that villagers identified to be distinct. Now I have soil analysis results for around 24 samples and I need to know, 1) if the number of samples are sufficient to represent the region (which statistical analysis ll help me?)

2) There ll be variation in values of each of these soil type identified by villagers, How much variation is acceptable within a soil type and beyond which, the soil should be classified to be a different type despite physical/ visual resemblance?

Hi everybody, 

I need a soil map based on the USDA soil classification ( sand, sandy loam, candy clay, etc.) to run my model but I have a soil map based on the FAO classification ( Gleyic Lixisols, Eutric Leptosols, Lithic Leptosols, etc.). How can I convert the FAO classes into the USDA classes.

Thank you in advance, 

Does any satellite provides fine resolution maps of soil texture (1-10 km)?

if not, is there anyway to use satellite remote sensed data to produce soil texture for a region?

I already have the ISRIC and FAO maps, but they are "soil types" Not texture.

Algeria ( my home country) is a country that had roughly 2 millions square kilometer of desert, and we want to classify and map these soils using satellites images ( orthorectified). 

Are there any other equipments that are available to test nitrogen mineralization( ammonium and nitrates) in soil apart from a flow injection analyzer ?

The image provides test results classifying the soil.

Thanks

I want to classify the bare soil from Landsat 7 images, which is the most suitable index for this: BI, NDBI (builtup), NDSI (soil) or any other? What are the benefits?

Is there any reference for these values?

Respected all,

I would like to convert FAO soil types such as Regosols, Alisols, Acrisols etc. into texture units such as Sand, Loamy sand, Loam etc. Is there any information or document available for this??. Your kind help will be beneficial for me.

Thanks in advance..

We are looking for a soil scientist who has worked on volcanic soils, in order to collaborate on research projects, proposals, etc.

What is the meaning or concept of "stepping soil"? Phenomenon that occurs in the soil by the passage of the furrow openers seeder. What would be a synonym for the term?

During soil microaggregate isolation, the particle of 2-53 um was isolated through centrifugation. However, we can not find a suitable rotational speed and time of the centrifugal. We do not know how to determine these parameters.

In my study site soil classification according to Soil Taxonomy is Inceptisols.

Soil type is clay-loam.

Horizon A: Depth= 0-15 cm; Sand= 33%; Silt= 41%; Clay=26%.

Horizon B: Depth= 15-55 cm; Sand= 29%; Silt= 43%; Clay=28%.

Horizon C: Depth= 55-85 cm; Sand= 26%; Silt= 42%; Clay=32%.

The study site have Marl and Limey sand-stone.

The parent material is calcareous and soil is leached brown forest soil.

In a broad sense, Regolith represent everything between fresh rock and fresh air (Egleton, 2001) and support at the upper part the soil. I wonder if, despite that the soil O horizons or purely organic, we can include them in the general definition of Regolith.

EGGLETON, R. A. (ed.) 2001. The Regolith Glossary: surficial geology, soils and

landscapes. CRC LEME, Wembley.

Peat land development in tropical freshwater swamps

I did some field experiment with an osmotic stress tolerant PGPR strain. I had submitted my findings to an esteemed journal of Agricultural discipline. During the revision process, the concern reviewers ask me to provide the scientific name of the field soil. In fact it was a mixture of 64% clay loam, 33% sand, 3% silt . Then what will be the scientific name of the soil type?

The importance of soil testing in fertilizer recommendation is now beyond any doubt, especially with the intervention of geo-spatial tools-aided soil fertility variograms. These developments added another dimension of soil test interpretation.On the other hand, in conventional soil testing research or advisory  laboratories, the  soil samples are stored for different periods. In this regard, i request our learned colleagues to express their views on the following related issues:

* How long , a soil after sampling  , can be stored without experiencing any change in physico-chemical properties?.

* How frequently , different soil properties undergo chnges /.

* Has any study been made to see the changes in soil properties in long term storage ?.

How Can I Access African soil Database, especilly East African countries?

I am using USLE equation for estimate the soil loss of a landscape and the retention efficiency of the cover land for estimate the sediments retention. Now i want to validate my results. How vould i validate my results?

How we can develop the salinity in pots for short term study? If some one can share any formula to calculate the amount of different salts to add in soil to make different salinity levels.

If not, what are other ways to standardize soil sample without using FAO-UNESCO classification?

For the moment, I found STEVENS, COLLIAT, and ALM&HAMRE methods. I try to compare these different methods to find the more predictive before driving pile.

Thanks!

Hi,

There are quite a few number of soil databases being used worldwide, each having different spatial resolution, coverage, and data quality. Among them, the JRC ESDB, the FAO/Others HWSD, and the ISRIC-WISE databases are more cited. However, no specific set of rules have been developed to select an appropriate soil database.

Do you have any suggestion for choosing the best and most reliable soil database for a research study at the European level?

Behnam Ababaei/

Hello, I am doing some simulation of the deformation of saturated and unsaturated soils. I need the normal consolidation test data for different soils both at saturated and unsaturated state (including the soil property like particle size D50). I am digitizing some from the literature, but that would cause errors. I shall be highly obliged if anyone can share me this kind of test data or recommend some papers. I will cite your paper if the data is published already.

Thanks.

I have Calculated the Soil Subgrade Modulus Kx, Ky, Kz, Kxx, Kyy, Kzz Using FEMA 356 Guidelines before correction Kz was greater than Kx, Ky but After correction Kz is less than Kx, Ky for isolated footing. Where am I wrong on calculation ?

One of the ResearchGate colleagues asked me a question about the "Colluvium". I am sorry that, unfortunately, I could not answer in time and I lost his message. However, I put now and here my answer:

Related to "colluvium", the Romanian system of soil taxonomy (SRTS, 2003, 2012) takes into consideration two soil diagnostic materials:

- Colluvic material = Weathering not-humified (humus content < 0.5 %) materials formed by sedimentation through erosion (natural and/or human-induced). It has been transported from upper slope to lower/middle slope by streams and/or by gravity. It forms the C horizon of a soil and is the main diagnostic criterion for the "colluvic" soil qualifier.

- Cumulic material = material of a humified (mollic/umbric) soil horizon transported through erosion from soil surface of upper slope to lower/middle slope, where accumulates in the A horizon of the existing soil. It is the main diagnostic criterion for the "cumulic" soil qualifier (lower taxonomic level).

I'm trying to find the extent of calcareous grassland in Europe. Any references that could help me find this out would be really helpful.

I have an area of alwer rajasthan (India). i have only soil maps in which i can only see the soil type such as i have three type of soil as red sandy, red gravelly and older alluvial soil.

Can i use any pedotransfer function such as Rosetta for predicting soil properties. So i can edit the SNAME in soil database for preparing a lookup table for Arc SWAT for Indian soils.

please give your suggestions. Is It really helpful for Indian context?

I want to determine the electrical conductivity of some soil samples. I mixed 15 g soil in 75 ml water and shake for one hour followed by 30-min settling time. The electrical conductivity of the solution above the settled soil was read by the EC meter. How do I calculate the electrical conductivity of the soil water (ECw, dS m-1). Is this just the value obtained with the conductivity meter?

The study related to creating Forest Soil Quality Index Map in broadleve and conifer forest (Fir, Spruce, Beech and juniper stands) depending on ecological factors (slope, aspect, elevation,main rock type, crown closure, stand type).

Firstly, which soil quality indicators as physical, biogical and chemical must be choosen?

Secondly, how can be assessed the quality of indicator, is there any special score card suitable for the forest ecosystem? or has any method been developed for assessing output values?

Finally, Please share with me any idea and any comments about indicator selection, method, analysis and creating map in emergency. I am looking forward this...

Elevation: 1400-2100 mt.

Aspect: North and South groups

Slope: %12-60

Soil depth: Moderate>>> % 90 (up to 100 cm), shallow>>> %10 (up to 30 cm)

Location: Temperate Zone (39E-40N)

Mean Temperature: 11 °C

Annual Precipitation: 1100-1250 mm

Main Forest Species: Beech, Spruce, Fir, Juniper

Forest Stand Type: Beech+Spruce (1400-1750mt), Spruce+Beech+Fir         (1750-2000 mt), Spruce+Juniper (2000-2100 mt.)

Main Rock Type: Granite (% 35) and Andesite+Basalt (%65)

      I have been looking for a reference for a long time, and I am annoyed that I cannot find it again. Perhaps someone on this list could help me...

     About 30 years ago, I remember reading an article, by a British scientist if I recall correctly, talking about soil maps. The author said that soil maps without a well-defined practical purpose don't make a lot of sense. He (or she?) discussed the example of a soil map useful to a fisherman. That map only needs to have two classes: soils with earthworms and soils without earthworms...

      I have always thought that this paper was right, in so many ways... And for the last few years, I have tried desperately to find it again, to cite it in a reflection on the usefulness of soil maps that I would like to write... We seem to spend so much time and energy making maps, including now digital maps, and so little time thinking about what information soil maps should contain to be useful, or what precise purpose maps serve. As a result, most of the information that current soil maps provide is almost entirely useless or misleading for a wide range of situations... 

Anyway, if someone could tell me what the reference to this article is, I would be eternally grateful.

Teruo Higa and James F. Parr (1994) proposed a simple classification of soils based on the activities and functions of their predominant microorganisms. Their work is attached and more information could also be found in the attached webpages.

The proposed classification:

(1) Disease-Inducing Soils (Putrescent-Producing),

(2) Disease-Suppressive Soils (Antibiotic producing),

(3) Zymogenic Soils (Fermentation producing),

(4) Synthetic Soils (Biosynthesis producing), and

(5) Composite (Disease-Suppressive, Zymogenic and Synthetic)

Do you support such a type of classification? Do you have any other type of classification? What is your advice?

It depends what is the purpose of mapping and in what country? For sure in development countries, as in Brazil (where I work), we still needing detailed soil class maps, either generated by conventional methods or by digital soil mapping.

In the WRB 2006 there are some explanations in the definition of its qualifiers, but not for everyone and this explanation is more for giving examples to the same qualifier concept. In the WRB 2014 the thing goes worse in this sense, because there are new concepts and no explanations which link with the general soil-properties background anymore.

So, for giving a better interpretation of a full soil classification, somebody knows if is there any paper or book to make this link between the qualifier and their implications on the soil properties/evolution/management?

Can I make a supervised classification map using geologic map for training sites for "Restricted area"? If yes please send me research papers as examples.

Specifically, Alfisols and Vetisols under flooded conditions.

I have had problems trying to find jobs about N mineralization potential of soils under flooded conditions and its relation to the taxonomic order.

I only have total porosity and hydraulic conductivity values of different types of soil. Kindly provide equations.

Is there any method to estimate indirect (e.g. pedotransfer function) the value for soil's effective field capacity (e FC)? Can we relate empirically the values of e FC with available water content (AWC)?