The Australian Soil and Land Survey Field Handbook specifies methods and terminology for soil and land surveys. It has been widely used throughout Australia, providing one reference set of definitions for the characterisation of landform, vegetation, land surface, soil and substrate. The book advocates that a comprehensive suite of land and soil attributes be recorded in a uniform manner. This approach is more useful than the allocation of land or soil to preconceived types or classes. The third edition includes revised chapters on location and vegetation as well as some new landform elements. These updates have been guided by the National Committee on Soil and Terrain, a steering committee comprising representatives from key federal, state and territory land resource assessment agencies. Essential reading for all professionals involved in land resource surveys, this book will also be of value to students and educators in soil science, geography, ecology, agriculture, forestry, resource management, planning, landscape architecture and engineering.

Soil classification and terminology are fundamental issues for the clear understanding and communication of the subject. However, while there are many national soil classification systems, these do not directly correlate with each other. This leads to confusion and great difficulty in undertaking comparative scientific research that draws on more than one system and in making sense of international scientific papers using a system that is unfamiliar to the reader. This book aims to clarify this position by describing and comparing different systems and evaluating them in the context of the World Reference Base (WRB) for Soil Resources. The latter was set up to resolve these problems by creating an international 'umbrella' system for soil correlation. All soil scientists should then classify soils using the WRB as well as their national systems. The book is a definitive and essential reference work for all students studying soils as part of life, earth or environmental sciences, as well as professional soil scientists.Published with International Union of Soil Sciences

This book, specially prepared for soil scientistsand engineers, offers comprehensivecoverage of basic soil concepts, systematics,mapping and examination procedures forsoils. The Manual is universally useful andis the primary reference on principles andtechnical detail for local, State and Federalcontributions to authorized soil surveys.Soil scientists concerned with soil surveysin other countries have used it as well.Teachers have used it both as a text and as areference for students.