Appendix E — Cross-compatibility

The Soil Description Manual can inform soil and land assessment work carried out under other systems in New Zealand.

E.1 Visual Soil Assessment

The Visual Soil Assessment (VSA, Shepherd (2000); Shepherd and Janssen (2000)) is a rapid soil quality assessment method commonly used in New Zealand agronomy. Those parts of the assessment dealing directly with soil morphology can be completed with reference to parts of this guide (Table E.1).

Table E.1: Mapping the VSA to the soil description manual

System	Component	Section	Notes
Cropping, low slope grazing, hill country	Structure and consistence	Section 13.1	‘Consistence’ is used differently in this standard
Cropping, low slope grazing, hill country	Soil porosity	Section 13.4, Section 13.5
Cropping, low slope grazing, hill country	Soil colour	Section 14.2	Only colour changes relative to a reference point are considered in VSA so Munsell notation is not required.
Cropping, low slope grazing, hill country	Soil mottles	Section 14.3
Cropping, low slope grazing, hill country	Earthworm counts	Section 7.2.1
Cropping	Tillage pan	Section 16.3	Pan type C
Cropping	Clod development	Section 13.1
Cropping, hill country	Soil erosion	Section 10.3	Section 11.7 for detailed assessment.
Cropping, low slope grazing	Surface ponding	Section 11.4 (presence at time of observation), Section 6.3.2 (time since rain event)
Low slope grazing, hill country	Surface relief	Section 11.6.1	Natural microrelief type A in low-slope areas and T on steeper slopes
Low slope grazing, hill country	Bare ground	Section 11.3	Surface cover types BE, BR, BO
Hill country	Topsoil depth	Section 12.2
Hill country (forestry)	Humus types	Section 20.1.1

E.2 NZ Land Use Capability classification

The Land Use Capability (LUC) Handbook (Lynn et al. 2009) encourages the user to identify soils from existing information sources (provided their quality is adequate for the target scale) before direct description. Where direct description is necessary, a minimum viable dataset for classifying soils according to the NZSC is suggested below.

• Per site:
  • Reference data (Section 10.2)
• Per Horizon:
  • Horizon depths (Section 12.2) and (Section 12.6)
  • Fine earth structure (Section 13.1, rapid options)
  • Rock fragments (Section 13.2.1, rapid options)
  • Matrix and pattern colours (Section 14.2, Section 14.3, rapid options)
  • Soil texture code (Section 15.2)
  • Pans (Section 16.3, rapid options)
  • Consistence tests (Chapter 17, as needed for NZSC classification - see Note 17.1)
  • Field tests (Chapter 18, as needed for NZSC classification - see Note 18.1)
  • Drainage (Section 21.3)
• Interpretations
  • Profile drainage (Section 24.2.4)

Optionally, functional horizon names (Section 20.2) and then NZSC Family and Sibling identification can be added (Section 24.1).

“Farm-scale” LUC mapping effectively operates at the Landform level (Section 4.3). Descriptions of slope, rock type, erosion and deposition, surface cover and vegetation following the LUC Handbook protocols can be made at that scale.

Lynn IH, Manderson AK, Page MJ, Harmsworth GR, Eyles GO, Douglas GB, Mackay AD, Newsome PJF 2009. Land use capability survey handbook - a new zealand handbook for the classification of land. [Internet]. 3rd ed. Hamilton [N.Z.] Lincoln [N.Z.] Lower Hutt [N.Z.]: AgResearch Ltd, Hamilton; Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd, Lincoln; Institute of Geological; Nuclear Sciences Ltd, Lower Hutt. https://doi.org/10.7931/DL1MG6

Shepherd TG 2000. VIsual soil assessment: Volume 1 - field guide for cropping and pastoral grazing on flat to rolling country. VIsual soil assessment.

Shepherd TG, Janssen H 2000. VIsual soil assessment: Volume 2 - field guide for hill country land uses. VIsual soil assessment.