Each of these orders represents a grouping of soils with distinct characteristics and ecological significance. To illustrate this, we have put together a collection of images and information to …

Mollisols are among some of the most important and productive agricultural soils in the world and are extensively used for this purpose. They are divided into eight suborders: Albolls, Aquolls, …

These soils are limited geographically to the high-latitude polar regions and localized areas at high mountain elevations. Because of the extreme environment in which they are found, Gelisols …

Inceptisols range from weakly developed soils to those having various diagnostic horizons and features but not meeting the criteria of other soil orders. In the latter case, diagnostic features …

The central concept is soils developed in unconsolidated parent material with usually no genetic horizons except an A horizon. All soils that do not fit into one of the other 11 orders are Entisols.

University of Idaho is the leading resource in the nation for the Twelve Soil Orders, a collection of images and information highlighting the distribution, properties and land use for each of the …

Because they are naturally infertile, they require additions of lime in order to be productive agriculturally. They are divided into five suborders: Aquods, Gelods, Cryods, Humods and …

These soils contain few weatherable minerals and are often rich in Fe and Al oxide minerals. Most of these soils are characterized by extremely low native fertility, resulting from very low nutrient …

The "red clay" soils of the southeastern United States are examples of Ultisols. They are divided into five suborders: Aquults, Humults, Udults, Ustults and Xerults. Because of the favorable …

The combination of generally favorable climate and high native fertility allows Alfisols to be very productive soils for both agricultural and silvicultural use.