The Australian Soil Classification is the classification system currently used to describe and
classify soils in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. It is a general-purpose,
hierarchical classification
Hierarchical classification is a system of grouping things according to a hierarchy.
In the field of machine learning, hierarchical classification is sometimes referred to as instance space decomposition, which splits a complete multi-class pro ...
system, and consists of five categorical levels from the most general to the most specific: ''order'', ''suborder'', ''great group'', ''subgroup'', and ''family''. An interactive, online key is available. The Australian Soil Classification supersedes other classification systems previously developed for Australian soils, including the Factual Key
(1960) and the
Handbook of Australian Soils (1968).
The Australian Soil Classification was developed by Ray Isbell, a retired soil scientist with CSIRO, and first published in 1996. A revised first edition was published in 2002, a second edition in 2010 and a third edition in March 2021. Since Ray Isbell's death in 2001 the National Committee on Soil and Terrain has led the updates and improvements to the classification and this committee is now listed as a co-author with Ray Isbell.
Structure of the classification system
Order level
At the top, most general, level of the Australian Soil Classification, there are fifteen Soil Orders. They are: ''Anthroposols'', ''Arenosols'', ''Calcarosols'', ''Chromosols'', ''Dermosols'', ''Ferrosols'', ''Hydrosols'', ''Kandosols'', ''Kurosols'', ''Organosols'', ''Podosols'', ''Rudosols,'' ''Sodosols'', ''Tenosols'' and ''Vertosols''. The character of many of the Soil Orders reflects the arid, strongly-weathered nature of the Australian continent.
Suborder level
For the Vertosol, Kurosol, Sodosol, Chromosol, Ferrosol, Dermosol and Kandosol orders, the suborder-level categories reflect the dominant colour of the upper part of the B2 horizon. There are five suborder colour categories, namely Red, Brown, Yellow, Grey and Black. The colour classes have the same names as, but are not directly equivalent to, those used in the Factual Key
and estimated using a subset of the
Munsell Colour System
In colorimetry, the Munsell color system is a color space that specifies colors based on three properties of color: hue (basic color), chroma (color intensity), and value (lightness). It was created by Professor Albert H. Munsell in the first ...
. The full suborder designation then becomes ''Red Kurosol'', ''Grey Vertosol'', for example.
The remaining soil orders have suborder categories that reflect unique characteristics of the given order. For example, the Hydrosol order is split into ''Intertidal Hydrosols'', ''Supratidal Hydrosols'', ''Extratidal Hydrosols'', ''Hypersalic Hydrosols'', ''Salic Hydrosols'', ''Redoxic Hydrosols'' and ''Oxyaquic Hydrosols''. On the other hand, the Rudosols are split into ''Hypergypsic Rudosols'', ''Hypersalic Rudosols'', ''Shelly Rudosols'', ''Carbic Rudosols'', ''Arenic Rudosols'', ''Lutic Rudosols'', ''Stratic Rudosols'', ''Clastic Rudosols'' and ''Leptic Rudosols'' at the suborder level.
See also
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Soil classification
Soil classification deals with the systematic categorization of soils based on distinguishing characteristics as well as criteria that dictate choices in use.
Overview
Soil classification is a dynamic subject, from the structure of the system, ...
References
{{soil science topics
Pedology
Geology of Australia
Types of soil