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Assisting nonsoil specialists to identify soil types for land management: an approach using a soil identification key and toposequence models
Author(s) -
Grealish G. J.,
Fitzpatrick R. W.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
soil use and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.709
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1475-2743
pISSN - 0266-0032
DOI - 10.1111/sum.12108
Subject(s) - soil survey , digital soil mapping , soil series , identification (biology) , soil classification , soil type , environmental science , soil map , soil science , soil texture , usda soil taxonomy , unified soil classification system , soil water , soil morphology , computer science , ecology , biology
Conventional soil survey information is often unclear except to specialists. An approach using soil toposequences and a soil identification key was used to aid the translation of soil survey information into a form suitable for a nonspecialist audience with a case study from B runei. S oil T axonomy was used to characterize the major soil types; however, to assist end users, a complementary special‐purpose soil classification system was developed in the form of a soil identification key using plain language terms in E nglish that were also translated into M alay. Easily recognized soil features such as depth, colour and texture were used to categorize soils to match S oil T axonomy classes. To complement the soil identification key, conceptual soil toposequence models presented the soil distribution patterns in a visual format that local land users understood. Legacy soil survey information along with a widespread distribution of 172 soil sites from 35 traverses in 16 study areas provided a dataset to develop and test soil toposequence models and the soil identification key which both proved reliable and robust. The approach demonstrated in B runei could be applied to other countries and landscapes.