Field Analysis:Soil Maps

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Soil Maps
Soil maps group together soils with common properties. There are numerous national and international soil classification schemes. The International standard soil classification system is the World Reference Base for Soil, available on-line at the FAO website. However, most national and regional scale soil maps use the relevant national soil classification system.

In both the UK and US systems the soil series is the lowest level of classification; these are the most homogeneous soil groups. Each soil series consists of groups of soil profiles that have developed in similar parent materials and which have a similar series of soil horizons. Soil series are usually named after the place where they were first described. Soil series linked by a single geological parent material, but with different drainage classes are sometime grouped into soil associations.

As with geological maps the scale of the original mapping and data collection means they may not be accurate at the site scale, and are often best viewed as generalisations of local conditions rather than as detailed maps of soil units. The groupings of soil series and associations on the basis of parent material, also means that soil maps may sometimes be used in lieu of geological maps.

A soil map provides information on the parent material and the dominant soil processes that may be affecting deposits locally. If the soil locally are ground-water gleys you can expect the archaeological deposits to be overprinted by grey and pink mottling of iron depletion and concentration and red/black iron nodules (gley / redoximorphic), however, the shallow water table means that deeper deposits may be waterlogged and well preserved.

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