Nebraska Soils Field Trip - Virginia Tech

4th IUSS Soil Classification Conference Field Tour Guidebook
April 15, 2011
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR CLASSIFICATION
OF ANTHROPOGENIC SOILS
FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS
TO: National Cooperative Soil Survey Partners and Other Colleagues Interested in Soil Classification
FROM: John M. Galbraith, Chairman of ICOMANTH
Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
239 Smyth Hall (0404)
Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA
SUBJECT: Request for Review of Final Recommendations for Changes to US Soil Taxonomy for
Inclusion and Standardization of Taxa for Human-Altered and Human-Transported Soils.
Summary of Proposed Changes and Rationale, compiled from seven Circular Letters and responses. All
documents are available at the ICOMANTH web site: http://clic.cses.vt.edu/ICOMANTH/
Circular letter 1 (August-1995) – Established committee charges, and posed four basic questions about
“anthropogenic” soils. Responses were summarized.
Circular Letter 2 (August, 1997) – Discussed terms to compile human activities and human-modified
materials, a brief history of the ways that human modified or transported soils have been recognized
in Soil Taxonomy, and posed 18 conceptual questions for the committee members.
Circular letter 3 (January, 1998) – Compiled responses to the questions from Circular 2 and asked 10
more questions in anticipation of the International Tour of NV and CA in 1998. Robert Ahrens and
Robert Engel, USDA-NRCS Soil Taxonomy staff supported the tour, funded through World soil
resources and Hari Eswaran, organized by Terry Cook and Roger Poff, soil scientist consultants.
Circular letter 4 (July, 2003) – Announced distribution of Version 1.0 of the Anthropogenic Soils CD-
ROM, announced new committee activities, discussed additions and changes to Soil Taxonomy,
answered commonly-asked questions, and solicited reader feedback to new questions.
Circular letter 5 and 6 (March, 2005; June, 2006) – Proposed changes to the USDA-NRCS soil survey
system. Announced distribution of Version 2.0 of the Anthropogenic Soils CD-ROM. The USDA-
NRCS system is defined here to include Soil Taxonomy (Soil Survey Staff, 1999), Keys to Soil
Taxonomy (Soil Survey Staff, 2003), the Soil Survey Manual (SSM) (Soil Survey Division Staff,
1993), NASIS, the National Soil Survey Handbook (NSSH) (USDA-NRCS, 2003), and the Field
Book for Describing and Sampling Soils (Schoeneberger et al., 2002). Provided examples of
applications of the proposed changes, and the rationale behind some of the proposals. Almost all were
adopted and implemented under the direction of Craig Ditzler, USDA-NRCS, Lincoln, NE.
Circular Letter 7 (December, 2010) – Following field tours, feedback from field soil scientists and
academics, SUITMA meeting in New York City, and responses from the international community,
ICOMANTH has made its recommendations for creating new classes at the family level and new taxa
at the subgroup level of US Soil Taxonomy. Changes were proposed for definitions of diagnostic
materials, and changes proposed to the National Soil Survey Handbook to include anthropogenic
microfeatures and landforms.
ICOMANTH has met the charges of the committee and will disband with the formal proposal for
amendment of Soil Taxonomy, to be reviewed at the National Cooperative Soil Survey Conference in the
summer of 2011. Additional efforts may include the compilation of distribution of Version 3.0 of the
Anthropogenic Soils CD-ROM. The ICOMANTH web site will be maintained.
A summary of the changes accepted and proposed by ICOMANTH to be added to the NRCS soil survey
system and Soil Taxonomy include:
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