Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
7
CHAPTER
Incorporating Anthropogenic Processes
in Soil Classification
Ray B. Bryant and John M. Galbraith
CONTENTS
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................57
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................58
The Need for Incorporating Anthropogenic Processes ...................................................................58
Fundamental Approaches to Soil ClassiÝcation..............................................................................60
Incorporating Classes of Anthropogenic Soils ................................................................................61
Diagnostic Criteria for Anthropogenic Soils ...................................................................................62
Conclusions ......................................................................................................................................64
References ........................................................................................................................................64
ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the need for incorporating anthropogenic processes in soil classiÝcation
systems, describes fundamental approaches to soil classiÝcation and their underlying concepts that
affect the incorporation of anthropogenic processes, and proposes possible approaches to incorporating
anthropogenic processes in Soil Taxonomy and like systems. Soil classiÝcation schemes serve to
facilitate communication about soils by organizing the tremendous number of individual soils into
groups of soils according to similarity. A problem facing Soil Taxonomy is that soils that may contain
garbage, coal ash, or construction debris are grouped with Entisols or Inceptisols, and this results in
a loss of credibility in the system. Additionally, wide ranges of properties within classes that include
anthropogenic soils result in large numbers of series that are unwieldy when one attempts to correlate
series and interpret map units. There are major problems with incorporating anthropogenic processes
in systems such as Soil Taxonomy that use morphology-based criteria, because not all anthropogenic
soils contain morphological evidence of anthropogenic processes. Three approaches to incorporating
anthropogenic processes are proposed for use, singularly or in combination, to minimize impacts on
Soil Taxonomy and like systems that rely on morphological criteria for deÝning classes. Previously
unused observations, such as landforms, could be used as criteria for classiÝcation; relational obser-
vations and data (to include historical records) could be used as criteria for classiÝcation; and the
knowledge of process of formation could be allowed for use in a single order. These approaches do
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