Search results tagged: Soil classification (25)

• NZ legacy systems

  Find out about the New Zealand Genetic Soil Classification, and the old soil series concept.

• NZSC

  The NZSC was developed in the 1980s. It grew out of the New Zealand Genetic Soil Classification and, where possible, preserved its useful features. The new classification was also influenced by local experience in testing the United States soil classification system, the 'Soil Taxonomy'.

• Pallic Soils [P]

  Pallic Soils have pale coloured subsoils, due to low contents of iron oxides.

• Granular Soils [N]

  Granular Soils are clayey soils formed from material derived by strong weathering of volcanic rocks or ash.

• Raw Soils [W]

  Raw Soils are very young soils. They lack distinct topsoil development or are fluid at a shallow depth.

• Soil drainage

  Soil drainage, in a dynamic sense, refers to the rate and degree of removal of water by surface run-off, flow through the soil to underground spaces, evaporation, and transpiration.

• Oxidic Soils

  Oxidic Soils are clayey soils that have formed as a result of weathering over extensive periods of time in volcanic ash or dark volcanic rock.

• Allophanic Soils [L]

  Allophanic Soils have a large affinity for phosphate. Up to 30 tonnes/ha of phosphorous may be locked away in intensively farmed topsoils.

• US Soil Taxonomy

  The US Soil Taxonomy was tested in New Zealand for 5 years between 1978 and 1983.

• Soil classification

  The names people use for soils will always reflect the needs of the day and the understanding people have of the part soil plays in underpinning many of our activities.
  These pages attempt to provide background information about the different naming systems that have been used over the years, and, where possible, indicate how they relate to each other.

• NZ soils in a nutshell

  A quick summary of the nature and properties of the soils in the New Zealand landscape of today.

• Gley Soils [G]

  Gley Soils, together with Organic Soils, represent the original extent of New Zealand wetlands, which have been greatly restricted in area by drainage.

• Anthropic Soils [A]

  Anthropic Soils are constructed by, or drastically disturbed, by people.

• Melanic Soils [E]

  Melanic Soils have black or dark grey well structured topsoils.

• Māori names

  There are over 100 traditional Māori names for soil, and most parts of the landscape are described in detail, with many descriptors (e.g. for degrees of wetness, stoniness, texture, colour).

• Semiarid Soils [S]

  Semiarid Soils are dry for most of the growing season. Rain is not sufficient to leach through the soil, so lime and salts accumulate in the lower subsoil.

• Podzol Soils [Z]

  Podzol soils are strongly acid soils that usually have a bleached horizon immediately beneath the topsoil.

• Brown Soils [B]

  Brown Soils have a brown or yellow-brown subsoil below a dark grey-brown topsoil.

• Pumice Soils [M]

  Pumice Soils are sandy or gravelly soils dominated by pumice, or pumice sand with a high content of natural glass.

• World Reference Base for Soil Resources

  The World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is the international standard taxonomic soil classification system, and is endorsed by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS).

• Soil orders

  The NZSC has 15 soil orders — these are defined by Hewitt (2010) with their descriptions and features.

• Ultic Soils [U]

  Ultic Soils are strongly weathered soils that have a well-structured, clay-enriched subsoil horizon.

• Organic Soils [O]

  Organic Soils are formed in the partly decomposed remains of wetland plants (peat) or forest litter.

• Recent Soils [R]

  Recent Soils are weakly developed, showing limited signs of soil-forming processes.

• Series names

  Regional Soil Series soil names are sometimes known as common names.