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A taxonomy is an arrangement in a systematic manner; the USDA soil taxonomy has six levels of classification. They are, from most general to specific: order, suborder, great group, subgroup, family and series. Soil properties that can be measured quantitatively are used in this classification system – they include: depth, moisture ...
The Canadian System of Soil Classification[1] is more closely related to the American system than any other, but they differ in several ways. The Canadian system is designed to cover only Canadian soils. The Canadian system dispenses with the sub-order hierarchical level. Solonetzic and Gleysolic soils are differentiated at the order level.
The most common engineering classification system for soils in North America is the Unified Soil Classification System (USCS). The USCS has three major classification groups: (1) coarse-grained soils (e.g. sands and gravels); (2) fine-grained soils (e.g. silts and clays); and (3) highly organic soils (referred to as "peat").
The Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) is a soil classification system used in engineering and geology to describe the texture and grain size of a soil. The classification system can be applied to most unconsolidated materials, and is represented by a two-letter symbol. Each letter is described below (with the exception of Pt):
This is reflected by the definition of many soil types in various classification systems. Because soil type is a very general and widely used term, many soil classification systems do not use it for their definitions. The USDA soil taxonomy has six hierarchical levels that are named order, suborder, great group, subgroup, family, and series.
In the United States, over 19,000 soil series have been identified. [1] The percentages of land area (in the US and associated territories, etc.) occupied by soils of the twelve orders have been estimated [1] as: Alfisols and Inceptisols occur widely in the US, but the circumstances of their occurrence would be difficult to characterize briefly.
The World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is an international soil classification system for naming soils and creating legends for soil maps. The currently valid version is the fourth edition 2022. [1] It is edited by a working group of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS). WRB, 4th edition (2022)
Map of the United States showing what percentage of the soil in a given area is classified as an Ultisol-type soil. The great majority of the land area classified in the highest category (75%-or-greater Ultisol) lies in the South and overlays with the Piedmont Plateau, which runs as a diagonal line through the South from southeast (in Alabama) to northwest (up into parts of Maryland).