A program of the Natural Resources Conservation Service to inventory soil resources as a basis for determining land capabilities and conservation treatments that are needed, provide soil information to the public (primarily through maps), and provide technical support to those who use soils information. About 90% of the private lands have been mapped. In FY1996, maps were prepared or updated on more than 17 million acres.
a fundamental tool for sound soil and water management, crop production, and land use
an acre-by-acre inventory of the soil resource
an inventory of the soil resources of a county or area
a study of the geography of soil
The systematic examination, descrip-tion, classification, and mapping of soils in an area.
The identification, classification, mapping interpretation and explanation of the soil.
A general term for the systematic examination of soils in the field and in the laboratories, their description and classification, the mapping of kinds of soil, and the interpretation of soils for many uses, including their suitabilities or limitations for growing various crops, grasses and trees, or for various engineering uses and predicting their behaviour under different management systems; for growing plants and for engineering uses.
the systematic examination, description, classification, and mapping of soils of an area.
Surveying the land to determine its suitability for a specific purpose, such as building a high-rise apartment.
Soil survey, or soil mapping, is the process of determining the soil types or other properties of the soil cover over a landscape, and mapping them for others to understand and use. It applies the principles of soil science, and draws heavily from geomorphology, theories of soil formation, physical geography, and analysis of vegetation and land-use patterns. Primary data for the soil survey are acquired by field sampling, supported by remote sensing, (principally vertical airphotos).