What is this ISO 25177 - Field soil description about?
ISO 25177 discusses soil quality with a focus on field soil description. ISO 25177 provides guidance on the description of soil in the field and its environmental context. ISO 25177 is applicable to natural, near-natural, urban, and industrial sites. The soil observations and measurements can be made on a project site level, on a plot level, on layer or horizon level, and on specific soil constituents. ISO 25177 also provides guidance on how to describe layers of anthropogenic (artificial) material or layers that were not modified by pedogenic processes in the strict sense and how to describe coarse material of natural or artificial origin.
ISO 25177 is used in combination with other publications that provide guidance or requirements regarding specific aspects of soil observations and measurements. The quality of field soil descriptions is strongly dependent on the knowledge and especially the experience of the person making and/or recording the observations in the field since most field observations are estimations.
Who is ISO 25177 - Field soil description for?
ISO 25177 on field soil description is useful for:
- Ecologists and conservationists
- Soil testing laboratories
- Landowners
Why should you use ISO 25177- Field soil description?
Traditionally, description of soils and their environment was carried out as a part of soil surveys and soil inventories. The purpose was to describe the pedogenic context of the soil and assess applied aspects, principally agronomic potentials. ISO 25177 is used separately or in combination with standards that provide further guidance or requirements for specific aspects of soil observations and measurements.
Soil descriptions and associated soil data are used and re-used for a variety of purposes. For wider utilization of data from soil descriptions, ISO 25177 is used in conjunction with other (commonly and publicly available) standards. Some types of soil information, specifically soil contamination data and data on anthropogenic and exogenous material can be gained using ISO 25177. ISO 25177 describes the most commonly used field observations in soil quality investigations. The observations are recorded at different levels:
- General/site
- Profile/surface point
- Horizon/layer
What’s changed since the last update?
BS EN ISO 25177:2019 supersedes ISO 25177:2008, which is withdrawn. BS EN ISO 25177:2019 includes some technical changes with respect to ISO 25177:2008.
These include:
- The 2015 edition of the World Reference Base for soil resources has been adapted
- References to geotechnical standards ISO 14688-1[3] and ISO 14688-2[4] have been made
- New aspects about coarse anthropogenical elements, oil-water reaction pan, and signs of pollution or contamination have been added
- A new Clause 11 about reporting has been added
- A new Annex A about landforms has been added and subsequent annexes have been renumbered
