Central to human life and civilization, soils are an integral part of the physical and cultural environment. Although we may take them for granted, the rise and fall of civilizations is closely linked with the use and abuse of soil and water resources. It is therefore important to evaluate soils for their quality and link them to appropriate uses and services. This book provides information on soil classification and shows how to key out taxa relevant to UAE soils. The latest soil inventory of United Arab Emirates reveals that a rather uniform looking desert landscape has, in fact, a diversity of subsurface features. These features confirm the soil diversity in terms of classification, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, fertility, suitability for different uses and vulnerability to land degradation. United Arab Emirates Keys to Soil Taxonomy presents information for keying out the soils of the United Arab Emirates into separate classes and provides a guide to associated laboratory methods. The classification used predominantly is extracted from the 11th edition of the USDA-NRCS Keys to Soil Taxonomy, and sections relevant to the soils found in the UAE are included here. Primarily, this key is designed to fit the soil system of the United Arab Emirates. Information not found in the USDA key has been added, including criteria and classes for: 1) differentiating anhydritic soils from gypsic soils, 2) identifying "lithic" subgroups for Aquisalids and Haplosalids, 3) identifying "salidic" subgroups within the great groups of Gypsids, Calcids, Psamments, and Orthents, and 4) incorporation of phases for soil taxa. A subsurface diagnostic horizon and mineralogy class (anhydritic), not reported earlier in the world soil literature and, recently found in the UAE, has also been added to the book. The book also offers a mechanism for updating the current soil surveys, and will facilitate the correlation of soils from new surveys in the UAE. Additionally, it will help the international soil science community to converse about UAE soils, and facilitate comparison to soils of other regions. These linkages allow countries with similar mapping and classification procedures and similar soils to transfer agriculture technology without conducting long-term experiments under similar environmental conditions, especially for Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia).

InhaltsangabeChapter 1 Soil Classification1.1 Introduction Chapter 2 The Soils That We Classify2.1 Introduction2.2 Buried Soils2.3 Approach to Soil Classification2.4 Naming Subgroups Chapter 3  Horizons, Layers, and Characteristics Diagnostic for the Higher Categories3.1 Introduction3.2 Master Horizons and Layers3.3 Suffix Symbols3.4 Conventions for Using Letter Suffixes3.5 Vertical Subdivisions3.6 Discontinuities3.7 Use of the Prime Symbol3.8Use of the Caret Symbol.3.9 Diagnostic Surface Horizons.3.9.1 The Epipedon3.9.1.1 Ochric Epipedon3.10 Diagnostic Subsurface Horizons3.10.1 Anhydritic Horizon3.10.2 Calcic Horizon3.10.3 Cambic Horizon3.10.4 Gypsic Horizon3.10.5 Petrocalcic Horizon3.10.6 Petrogypsic Horizon3.10.7 Salic Horizon.3.11 Horizons and Characteristics-Diagnostics of Mineral Soils3.11.1 Aquic Conditions3.11.2 Lithic Contact3.11.3 Paralithic Contact3.11.4 Paralithic materials3.11.5 Soil Moisture Regimes3.11.5.1 Classes of Soil Moisture Regimes3.11.6 Soil Temperature Regime Chapter 4  Family and Series Differentiae4.1 Introduction4.2 Definition of Particle-Size Classes4.2.1 Control Section for Particle-Size Classes4.2.1.1 Root-Limiting Layers4.2.1.2 Key to Control Section for Particle-Size Classes4.2.1.3 Key to the Particle-Size Classes.4.2.2 Strongly Contrasting Particle Size Classes4.3 Mineralogy Classes4.3.1 Control Section for Mineralogy Classes4.3.2 Key to Mineralogy Classes4.4 Cation-Exchange Activity Classes4.4.1 Control Section for Cation-Exchange Activity Classes4.4.2 Key to Cation-Exchange Activity Classes4.5 Soil Temperature Classes4.5.1 Control Section for Soil Temperature4.6 Soil Depth Classes.4.6.1 Key to Soil Depth Classes4.7 Phases of Soil Taxa4.7.1 Key to Phases Chapter 5 Identification of the Taxonomic Class of a Soil5.1 Introduction.5.2 Key to Soil Orders5.3 Key to Suborders of Aridisols5.3.1 Calcids.5.3.1.1 Haplocalcids5.3.1.2 Petrocalcids5.3.2 Cambids5.3.2.1 Haplocambids5.3.3 Gypsids5.3.3.1 Calcigypsids5.3.3.2 Haplogypsids5.3.3.3 Petrogypsids5.3.4 Salids5.3.4.1 Aquisalids5.3.4.2 Haplosalids5.4 Key to the Suborders of Entisols5.4.1 Aquents.5.4.1.1 Psammaquents5.4.2 Orthents5.4.2.1 Torriorthents5.4.3 Psamments5.4.3.1 Torripsamments Chapter 6 Laboratory Methods for Classification of United Arab Emirates Soils6.1 Introduction6.1.1 Soil texture6.1.2 Fragments in the soil6.1.3 Moisture content6.1.4 Total pretreatment loss (TPL)6.1.5 Loss on acid treatment (LAT)6.1.6 Carbonate equivalents6.1.7 Gypsum6.1.8 Anhydrite.6.1.9 Extractable cations6.1.10 Cation-exchange-capacity (CEC)6.1.11 Exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP)6.1.12 Saturation percentage (SP)6.1.13 Saturation extract analysis6.1.14 Electrical conductivity of the saturated extract (ECe)6.1.15 Soil reaction or hydrogen ion activity (pH)6.1.16 Sodium adsorption ratio (SAR)6.1.17 Osmotic potential (OP)6.1.18 Engineering data6.1.19 Atterberg limits6.1.20 AASHTO group classification6.1.21 Unified Soil Classification System (USCS)6.1.22 Percent passing sieves6.1.23 Water retention (WR)6.1.24 Water retention difference (WRD)6.1.25 Bulk density (BD)6.1.26 Particle density (PD)6.1.27 Porosity.6.1.28 Organic carbon (OC)6.1.29 Soil mineralogy (XRD analysis).6.1.30 Clay mineralogy (CM)