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The Soil Survey

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The Soil Survey The Soil Survey The soil survey delineates the basal soil pattern of an area and characterises each kind of soil so that the response to changes can be assessed and used as a basis for prediction. Although in an economic climate it is necessarily made for some practical purpose, it is not subordinated to the parti­ cular need of the moment, but is conducted in a scientific way that provides basal information of general application and eliminates the necessity for a resurvey whenever a new problem arises. It supplies information that can be combined, analysed, or amplified for many practical purposes, but the purpose should not be allowed to modify the method of survey in any fundamental way. According to the degree of detail required, soil surveys in New Zealand are classed as general, . district, or detailed. General surveys produce sufficient detail for a final map on the scale of 4 miles to an inch (1 :253440); they show the main sets of soils and their general relation to land forms; they are an aid to investigations and planning on the regional or national scale. District surveys, for maps, on the scale of 2 miles to an inch (1: 126720), show soil types or, where the pattern is detailed, combinations of types; they are designed to show the soil pattern in sufficient detail to allow the study of local soil problems and to provide a basis for assembling and distributing information in many fields such as agriculture, forestry, and engineering. Detailed surveys, mostiy for maps on the scale of 40 chains to an inch (1 :31680), delineate soil types and land-use phases, and show the soil pattern in relation to farm boundaries and subdivisional fences. For special studies, particularly in areas of very intricate soil pattern, detailed surveys are made for maps of 20 chains to an inch or other larger scales. They are a direct aid in advisory work, and in many fields of research where the problems are linked with the distribution of individual soil units and modifications of these units induced by man's activities. The soil survey is considered under three ma_in headings as follows: Units of soil mapping and classification; General conduct of the soil survey; Soil classifications for special purposes. UNIT~ Of SOIL MAPPING AND CLASSIFICATION The soll:mappingunits are necessarily closely related to the taxonomic classes of the soil classification and are named accordingly. Ideally the basal unit of both mapping and 133 classification is a simple uniform one containing a single other parts of the country. Thus 10 soil types belonging to kind of pedon so that tJie variations within th~ unit are no seven distinctive series may be grouped broadly as follows: greater than those withm the pedon. In practice, however. these ideal units are rarely large enough to be of general N orthem yellow-brown earths use when shown on s.oil maps. Consequently the actual Puhbi clay loam basic unit of soil mapping, the soil type, is generally a somewhat varied one; usually it contains an assemblage. of Riponui sandy clay like pedons with, in places, a smaller number of unhke ~ Riponui sandy loam pedons regarded as inclusions within the type. Northern podzols Soil classification in New Zealand has developed along two Wharekohe silt loam main lines - one based on the American system, and the Wharekohe fine sandy loam other, the genetic system, based originally on early Russian Wharekohe sandy loam work. The American method classifies soils into types, Parahaki silt loam series, and families. Its basic unit is the soil type which is given a composite name comprising a geographic name :to Northern red-brown loams indicate the series, followed by textural and other dis­ tinguishing names, and is subdivided where required into Kiripaka silt loam phases on the basis of characteristics potentially significant Whatatiri friable clay to land use. It has the advantage of providing simple refer­ Ruatangata friable clay ence names for the use of advisory workers, farmers, and others dealing with the land. The genetic method classifies soils in an interpretative way, according to groups of soil­ The Soil Type forming processes (p. 157) . Its basic unit, which is a The soil type is the basic unit of soil mapping. In the narrow one containing a single kind of pedon, is given a field an endeavour is made to subdivide the soil covering descriptive name in terms . indicating its genesis. It has the an area into a number of homogeneous or near-homogeneous advantage, as a research tool, of enabling the student to segments so that these may be classified and predictions classify and name the soil of any particular site without made as to their behaviour under various conditions. Each of reference to a central correlating authority, in terms that these segments is a soil type. readily convey to others an understanding of its nature. Each soil type is a unique combination of internal The soil types, series, and families of the American system characters and site features which are assessed in the field correspond in an approximate way with appropriate lower and in the laboratory by chemical, physical, biological, and categories of the genetic classification; for ordinary purposes mineralogical studies of the soil horizons including the parent they can be classified in the genetic system by naming the material, and by examination of the form and other modal* part of the type, series, or family, as is commonly characteristics of the site. The endeavour should be to done for the higher categories. In soil surveys the mapping select a homogeneous soil unit rather than a unit which units are generally expressed as soil types and series, and are merely has certain uniform soil-body characters. arranged in groups according to the common names of the genetic nomenclature, in order to show the relationships The problem of recognising a soil type calls {Qr good that link the soils with one another and with the soils of judgment on the part of the pedologist, just as recognising a species requires judgment on the part of the biologist. But *When referring to a soil or profile, modal is used with the mathe­ biological units are commonly disposed in distinct steps matical meaning of "the most abundant" as distinct from medial which refers to the middle of a sequence. Such profiles should not with the intergrades missing, whereas soil units commonly be confused with the general soil. profile which is commonly merge into one another with smooth gradations ( see p. 14) . reconstructed from many observations, portrays the salient features In both cases the problem lends itself to the manoeuvrings in a general way, and is sometimes termed a constructed universal. of the "splitters" and the "Jumpers" (see Appendix 14). To 134 maintain uniformity in recognising a~d e~tablishing soil types standards established on earlier pages. The nomenclature the following points should be borne m mmd: is illustrated by the following examples: Timaru silt loam; Kerikeri friable clay; Waimakariri stony 1. "Any one soil typ~ i!}cludes the soils that are ali_ke . ,in sandy loam; Waimakariri shallow sandy loam; Egmont black characteristics that are s1gmficant to the na'11;1fe and functiornng silt loaqi; and Hokio strongly mottled sand ( all the soils of the of the soil in the natural landscape." (Umted States Manual, Hokio series are mottled, the name indicating the degree of p. 12). Differences that are not signifi~ant in the natura~ ;l~nd­ mottling and associated conditions in this particular type) . scape, but which are significant to special crops, are subd1v1S1ons within the type. Historically, soil types were named according to the series 2. Where the soil type consists of more than one kind of pedon and the texture of the topsoil only, and in New .Zealand it must be capable of being describe~ ~n terms of a modal pedon those distinguished by additional terms were regarded as together with pedons that are trans1t10nal to modal pedons of subtypes. Since, however, the type should include all its other types. The variations within a type should not he greater subtypes, this system involved more complex terminology, than the differences between it and other types, and there sho~ld not be too many pedons in one type ·that are capable of bemg for which there were no grounds other than historical. equally well placed in another. Consequently such subdivisions of the series are now re­ 3. All parts of a soil type have like site c~aracteristics ( cli~a~e, garded as soil types. topography, parent material, etc.) and like mternal charactenstics (arrangement and kind of soil ~or_izons, colour, tex!ure, structure, chemical composition, etc.). Vanah~n must necessanly be all?wed, The Soil Phase but it should be narrow. The soil typ~ should be suffi<?1ently refined to be of practical val_ut:, parhcul~rly as . a . basis !or The soil phase is often regarded as a subdivision of the investigations and overall predictions - special predictions bemg soil type since it is commonly used in this way. Strictly, based on subdivisions of the type. however, it is a subdivision of any category of the classifica­ tion, but is not itself a category of the system. It is based As an aid to understanding the degree of refinement of a on any characteristic or combination of characteristics soil type, it is useful to keep in mind the scale of the map in potentially significant to land use, for example, depth and use. Normally, a 2-mile map shows areas of the more physical composition of the soil body, surface form, drainage, extensive types, and associations of types where the pattern salinity, erosion, sedimentation, or climatic regime.
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