Soil Judging

Diagnostic Horizons

100

This type of horizon is root-restricting, feeling denser than other layers and having firm, very firm, or extremely firm moist rupture consistency

Densic Horizon

200

This horizon, most commonly identified as Bt, must have clay films, organoclay coatings, and/or clay bridging

Argillic horizon

300

This horizon is a "white" E horizon that overlies either an argillic, a glossic, an orstein/placic, or a spodic feature, and often has platy structure if it overlies an argillic horizon.

Albic horizon

400

These horizons are cemented spodic materials

Placic/ortstein horizons

500

These horizons, often seen with thin portions of fine sands, silts, and/or clays, contain elluvial and illuvial portions of pedogenic clay and other fine materials

Lamellae horizons

Parent Materials

100

This parent material is sandy material deposited near shore of a lake by wave action

Beach deposit

200

These materials were moved and deposited by intentional human activity, usually with the aid of machinery. Common examples of these materials include dredge deposits, construction debris, mine spoil, and other waste materials.

Human-Transported Materials (HTM)

300

This parent material, including material on flood plains, stream terraces, and alluvial fans, was transported and deposited by flowing water or in ponded depressions. Its sorting indicates water as the primary mechanism of transport. 

Alluvium

400

This parent material is primarily composed of fine and medium sand that has accumulated through wind action, normally on dune topography

Eolian Sand

500

This parent material is composed of fine-grained, wind-deposited materials that are dominantly of silt size

Loess

Structure

100

This structure grade has no observable aggregation or no definite, orderly arrangement of natural lines of weakness

Structureless (written as 0 on scorecard)

200

This structure type, abbreviated as PL, is plate-like, with the horizontal dimension significantly greater than the vertical dimension

Platy

300

This soil structure, abbreviated as ABK, has block-like units with flattened faces and many sharply angular vertices with <90° angles

Angular blocky

400

This structure is used to describe soils with no apparent structure, and no coherence between soil fragments and single mineral grains, such as loose sand

Single Grained (SGR)

500

This structure is used to describe soil with no apparent structure, but coherent material

Massive (MA)

Landforms

100

This landform is an essentially continuous ridge of sandy material along the present or former shoreline of a lake. The parent material of this landform is beach deposit.

Beach ridge

200

This landform is a hill or ridge of wind-blown sand. The parent material of this landform is eolian sand.

Sand dune

300

This landform is located on the bed of a former lake or pond and underlain by stratified lacustrine sediments.

Lake Plain

400

This landform is a low, cone-shaped deposit formed by material deposited from a tributary stream of steep gradient flowing into an area with less gradient.

Alluvial fan

500

This erosional landform is the high area including divides between adjacent drainageways

Interfluve

Score card Abbreviations

100

This boundary distinction is abbreviated as "A"

Abrupt

200

This texture is abbreviated as "SIC"

Silty Clay

300

This coarse fragment modifier is abbreviated as "CB"

Cobbly

400

This number is how moderate structure grade is indicated on the score card

2

500

This structure shape is abbreviated as "RCF"

Rock-controlled fabric