The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development has published a free online publication explaining the diversity of the State’s soils and helping users describe the most important parts of a soil profile in an easy-to-understand way.
The Department’s A Simple Guide for Describing Soils was produced by its soil experts to meet the growing demand from industry, community groups and individuals.
Principal Soil Research Scientist with the Department, Tim Overheu said Western Australia had a diverse range of soil types including ironstone gravelly soils, sandy duplexes, deep sands and clays.
“The requirement to describe these soils extends beyond agriculture,” Mr Overheu said.
“People working in a range of fields such as horticulture, nature conservation, environmental consulting or planning, as well as students and the general public who have an interest in soils, will find this guide valuable.”
He said the publication provided a step-by-step guide on what soil properties to describe, how to describe them and the tools to make basic soil classifications.
“The guide covers nine basic soil properties including depth profile, identifying and naming soil layers, texture, coarse fragments, colour, pH and salinity, lime layers, structure and water regime,” Mr Overheu said.
“By being able to understand and describe these soil properties, people will then be able to assign a simple and standardised name to soil.”
The Department’s 34-page A Simple Guide for Describing Soils can be accessed at this PS News link.
