USDA soil taxonomy

USDA Soil Taxonomy developed by United States Department of Agriculture and the National Cooperative Soil Survey provides an elaborate classification of soil types according to several parameters (most commonly their properties) and in several levels: Order, Suborder, Great Group, Subgroup, Family, and Series.

Example of classification of a soil type

Order: Entisols

Suborder: Fluvents

Great Group: Torrifluvents

Subgroup: Typic Torrifluvents

Family: Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, Typic Torrifluvents

Series: Jocity, Youngston.

Another Example

Order: Alfisols

Suborder: Xeralfs

Great Group: Durixeralfs

Subgroup: Abruptic Durixeralfs

Family: Fine, Mixed, Active, thermic Abruptic Durixeralfs

Series: San Joaquin (soil)

Link to Official Series Description: ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/NSSC/StateSoil_Profiles/ca_soil.pdf

Orders

• Alfisols
• Andisols
• Aridisols
• Entisols
• Gelisols
• Histosols
• Inceptisols
• Mollisols
• Oxisols
• Spodosols
• Ultisols
• Vertisols

See also

• FAO soil classification
• International Committee on Anthropogenic Soils (ICOMANTH)
• Soil classification
• 1938 USDA soil taxonomy

External links

• USDA / NRCS soil taxonomy webpage
• Soil taxonomy document
• A Compendium of On-Line Soil Survey Information: Soil Classification Systems
• USDA-NRCS Web Soil Survey