SOIL PROFILE OR PEDON
Brief Description of the Soil Orders1Alfisols are naturally fertile soils with high base saturation and a clay enriched
subsoil horizon.
2. Andisols are relatively young soils, mostly of volcanic origin, that are
characterized by unique minerals with poorly organized crystalline structure.
3. Aridisols are the dry soils of deserts.
4. Entisols are young soils with little or no profile development.
5. Gelisols are very cold soils with permafrost in the subsoil.
6. Histosols are soils that formed in decaying organic material.
7. Inceptisols are youthful soils with a weak, but noticeable, degree of profile development.
8. Mollisols are very dark-colored, naturally very fertile soils of grasslands.
9. Oxisols are highly weathered tropical soils with low natural fertility.
10.Spodosols are acid soils with low fertility and accumulations of organic matter and iron and aluminum oxides in the subsoil.
11.Ultisols are soils with low base status and a clay-enriched subsoil.
12.Vertisols are very clayey soils that shrink and crack when dry and expand
when wet.
ALFISOLS
ANDISOLS
ARIDISOLS
GELISOLS
HISTOSOLS
INCEPTISOLS
MOLLISOLS
OXISOLS
SPODOSOLS
ULTISOLS
VERTISOLS
