Experience With Soil Taxonomy of the United States

The use of soil classification in journal papers between 1975 and 2014

“…The main criticism on Soil Taxonomy was summarized by Cline (1980) and by Hallberg (1984). They have not been free of criticism although it should be noted that there seems to be more criticism on Soil Taxonomy than on FAO-Unesco or WRB.…”

“…From the beginning, it was already considered bizarre, incomprehensible, barbarous in formation, and conspicuously lacking in euphony (Heller, 1963), although the rationale for the nomenclature has been explained in detail (Smith, 1986). There have been problems with buried and cumulic soils (Hallberg, 1984), soil order change following erosion (Mokma et al, 1996), the lack of a geographic focus (Campbell and Edmonds, 1984) and soils not fitting the hierarchy (Cline, 1980;Swanson, 1999). From a geomorphological point of view, Soil Taxonomy has an overemphasis on the surface horizon whereas the horizons beneath the A horizon are commonly more important (Birkeland, 1999).…”