Comparison Between Soil Taxonomy and WRB for Classifying Saline Soils of Kerman Province

آب و خاک

Article 20, Volume 25, Issue 5, November 2011   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/jsw.v0i--.11251

Authors

I. Esfandiarpour Borujeni^{* 1}; M.H. Farpoor²; A. Kamali¹

¹Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan

²Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture., Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman

Abstract

Abstract
Soil classification is a simple tool which is useful to improve human knowledge and to transfer the experience and technology obtained from landscape. The objective of the present research is to compare the efficiency of Soil Taxonomy and WRB in saline soils of different areas in Kerman province. Soil climatic units of the province were separated and based on the area covered by each climatic unit, several pedons were studied. Finally, 12 saline pedons were selected. Results showed that WRB can better express field conditions from both horizontal and vertical dimensions for classification of saline soils of arid areas due to various qualifiers used and more flexibility of this system in reflecting effective properties in soil nomenclature. Besides, adding new "Calcic Natrisalids" and "Calcic Petrosalids" subgroups to Soil Taxonomy from one hand, and "Petrogypsic", "Hypergypsic", "Episalic", "Endosalic", and "Aquic" qualifiers to prefix qualifiers of Solonchaks reference group of WRB from the other hand, can better correlate subgroups of Soil Taxonomy with second level classes of WRB.

Keywords: Soil Taxonomy, WRB, Saline soils, Soil correlation, Kerman province