World Reference Base for Soil Resources
From Freepedia
This is the international standard soil classification system endorsed by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS). It was developed by an international collaboration coordinated by the International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC) and sponsored by the IUSS and the FAO via its Land & Water Development division. It replaces the FAO Legend for the Soil Map of the World.
The WRB borrows heavily from modern soil classification concepts, including USA Soil Taxonomy, the legend for the FAO Soil Map of the World 1988, the Référentiel Pédologique and Russian concepts. As such, it is the result of ’pedo-political’ negotiations.
The classification is based mainly on soil morphology which is thought to express the effects of soil genesis. A major difference with USA Soil Taxonomy is that soil climate is not part of the system, except in so far as the effects of climate affect soil properties. As far as possible, diagnostic criteria match those of existing systems, so that correlation with national and previous international systems is as straightforward as possible.
The WRB is meant for correlation of national and local systems. The level of detail corresponds to USA Soil Taxonomy subgroups, without the soil climate information. It is not detailed enough for mapping at scales larger than about 1:200k, although proposal have been made to couple WRB with substrate information to map at 1:50k in regional studies.
WRB 98 soil groups
| Code | Soil type | Brief description |
|---|---|---|
| AC | Acrisol | |
| AB | Albeluvisol | |
| AL | Alisol | |
| AN | Andosol | |
| AT | Anthrosol | |
| AR | Arenosol | |
| CL | Calcisol | |
| CM | Cambisol | |
| CH | Chernozem | |
| CR | Cryosol | |
| DU | Durisol | |
| FR | Ferralsol | |
| FL | Fluvisol | |
| GL | Gleysol | |
| GY | Gypsisol | |
| HS | Histosol | |
| KS | Kastanozem | |
| LP | Leptosol | |
| LX | Lixisol | |
| LV | Luvisol | |
| NT | Nitisol | |
| PH | Phaeozem | |
| PL | Planosol | |
| PT | Plinthosol | |
| PZ | Podzol | |
| RG | Regosol | |
| SC | Solonchak | |
| SN | Solonetz | |
| UM | Umbrisol | |
| VR | Vertisol |
Links
References
- Bridges, E. M. (1997). World soils (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Bridges, E. M., Batjes, N. H., & Nachtergaele, F. O. (Eds.). (1998). World Reference Base for soil resources : atlas. Leuven: ACCO.
- Deckers, J. A., Nachtergaele, F. O., & Spaargaren, O. C. (Eds.). (1998). World Reference Base for soil resources : introduction. Leuven: ACCO.
- Driessen, P., Deckers, J., Spaargaren, O., & Nachtergaele, F. (Eds.). (2001). Lecture notes on the major soils of the world. Rome: FAO.
- FAO. (1998). World Reference Base for Soil Resources. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- Jahn, R., Joisten, H., & Kabala, C. (2004). The “Reference Soil Series” Concept of the First European Joint Soil Map at a Scale of 1:50 000, Sheet Zittau – a Framework to Upgrade the Information Content of Lower Level WRB Units. Paper presented at the EUROSOIL 2004, Freiburg im Breisgau (D).
