Table of Contents
Part 600 – Introduction
Subpart A -General Information
600.0 The Mission of the Soil Science Division, Natural Resources Conservation Service
600.1 Purpose
600.2 National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) Standards
600.3 Principal References and Their Maintenance
600.4 Conventions and Terminology
600.5 Standards of the National Cooperative Soil Survey
Subpart B - Exhibits
600.10 List of Technical References
600.11 Tracking Flowchart for NSSH Amendments (After Figure 503-D2: Workflow for National-Level Directives Approval in Title 120, National Directives Management Manual, 2017)
Part 601 – National Cooperative Soil Survey Organization
601.0 Definition
601.1 NRCS Organization and Responsibilities
Subpart B - Appendix
601.10 Primary Federal Partners
Part 602 – Conferences of the National Cooperative Soil Survey
602.0 Definition
Subpart B Exhibits
602.10 Bylaws of the National Cooperative Soil Survey Conference
602.11 Bylaws of the Western Regional Cooperative Soil Survey Conference (Updated June 2012)
602.12 Bylaws of the Northeast Cooperative Soil Survey Conference (Revised June 2020)
602.13 Bylaws of the North Central Regional Soil Survey Conference (Revised June 7, 2012)
602.14 Bylaws of the Southern Regional Cooperative Soil Survey Conference
602.15 Conducting NCSS Conferences
Part 606 – Working Agreements
Subpart A – General Information
606.0 Definition
606.1 Policy and Responsibilities
Subpart B – Exhibits
606.10 Template for an MLRA Regionwide Memorandum of Understanding
Part 607 – Initial Survey Preparation
607.0 Purpose
607.1 Policy and Responsibilities
607.2 Preliminary Survey Activities
607.10 Reference Materials for Soil Surveys
607.11 Example of a Procedure for Geodatabase Development, File Naming, Archiving, and Quality Assurane
Part 608 – Program Management
608.0 Definition and Purpose
608.1 Responsibilities and Organization
608.2 Soil Survey Area Designation
608.3 Areas of Limited Access, Denied Access Areas, and Areas Not Completed
608.4 Determining Workloads
608.5 Priorities for Soil Survey Activities
608.6 Planning Workflow
608.7 Goals and Progress
608.8 Developing Other Schedules for Soil Survey Operations
608.9 Status Maps
608.10 Long-Range Plan for Initial Soil Surveys
Part 609 – Quality Control, Quality Assurance, and Soil Correlation
609.0 Definition and Purpose of Quality Control and Quality Assurance
609.1 Policy and Responsibilities for Quality Control and Quality Assurance
609.2 Soil Correlation
609.3 Seamless Soil Survey
609.4 Quality Control Reviews
609.5 Quality Assurance Reviews
609.6 Field Assistance Visits
609.7 Final Soil Survey Field Activities for Initial Soil Survey Projects
609.8 General Soil Maps, Index Maps, and Location Maps
Part 610 – Updating Soil Surveys
610.0 Definition and Purpose
610.1 Policy and Responsibilities
610.2 Inventory and Assessment
610.3 Update Strategies
610.4 Project Plan
610.5 Prioritizing and Ranking
610.6 Long-Range Plan
610.7 Annual Plan of Operation (APO)
610.8 Certification of Soils Data
610.9 Publication of Soils Data
610.10 Agency Resources Concerns
610.11 Information Items for the Inventory Assessment
610.12 Resources for the Inventory and Assessment
610.13 Sample Project Evaluation Worksheet
610.14 Project Plan Checklist
610.15 Example of a Project Evaluation Ranking Procedure
Part 614 – Applying Soil Taxonomy
614.0 Definition and Purpose
614.1 Policy and Responsibilities
614.2 National Soil Classification System
614.3 Use of the National Soil Classification System in Soil Surveys
614.4 Soil Taxonomy Committees, Work Groups, and Referees
614.5 Procedures for Amending Soil Taxonomy
614.6 The Soil Series
614.10 Flow Chart of Amendment Process
614.11 Example of an Official Series Description in HTML
614.12 Explanation and Content of a Soil Series Description
614.13 Rounding Numbers from Laboratory Data
614.14 Significant Digits for Soil Property or Quality Measurements Used as Criteria in Soil Taxonomy
Part 617 – Soil Survey Interpretations
617.0 Purpose
617.1 Responsibilities
617.2 Interpretations for Map Unit Components and Map Units
617.3 Developing and Maintaining Interpretation Guides and Ratings
617.4 Reviewing and Implementing Soil Interpretative Technologies
617.5 The National Soil Information System
617.6 Presenting Soil Interpretations
617.7 Updating Soil Interpretations
617.8 Coordinating Soil Survey Interpretations
617.9 Writing Soil Interpretation Criteria
617.10 Documenting Soil Interpretation Criteria
617.11 Requirements for Naming Reports and Interpretations
617.12 Interpretation Overrides
617.20 Example of Descriptions for Documenting Interpretations
Part 618 – Soil Properties and Qualities
618.0 Definition and Purpose
618.1 Responsibilities
618.2 Collecting, Testing, and Populating Soil Property Data
618.3 Soil Properties and Soil Qualities
618.4 Albedo, Dry
618.5 Artifacts in the Soil
618.6 Available Water Capacity
618.7 Bulk Density, One-Third Bar
618.8 Bulk Density, Oven Dry
618.9 Bulk Density, Satiated
618.10 Calcium Carbonate Equivalent
618.11 Cation-Exchange Capacity NH4OAc pH 7
618.12 Climatic Setting
618.13 Corrosion
618.14 Crop Name and Yield
618.15 Diagnostic Horizon Feature – Depth to Bottom
618.16 Diagnostic Horizon Feature – Depth to Top
618.17 Diagnostic Horizon Feature – Kind
618.18 Drainage Class
618.19 Effective Cation-Exchange Capacity
618.20 Electrical Conductivity
618.21 Electrical Conductivity 1:5 (volume)
618.22 Elevation
618.23 Engineering Classification
618.24 Erosion Accelerated, Kind
618.25 Erosion Class
618.26 Excavation Difficulty Classes
618.27 Exchangeable Sodium
618.28 Extractable Acidity
618.29 Extractable Aluminum
618.30 Flooding Frequency Class, Duration Class, and Month
618.31 Fragments in the Soil
618.32 Free Iron Oxides
618.33 Frost Action, Potential
618.34 Gypsum
618.35 Horizon Depth to Bottom
618.36 Horizon Depth to Top
618.37 Horizon Designation
618.38 Horizon Thickness
618.39 Hydrologic Group
618.40 Landscape, Landform, Microfeature, Anthroscape, Anthropogenic Landform, and Anthropogenic Microfeature
618.41 Linear Extensibility Percent
618.42 Liquid Limit
618.43 Organic Matter
618.44 Parent Material, Kind, Modifier, and Origin
618.45 Particle Density
618.46 Particle Size
618.47 Percent Passing Sieves
618.48 Plasticity Index
618.49 Ponding Depth, Duration Class, Frequency Class, and Month
618.50 Pores
618.51 Reaction, Soil (pH)
618.52 Restriction Kind, Depth, Thickness, and Hardness
618.53 Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity
618.54 Slope Aspect
618.55 Slope Gradient
618.56 Slope Length, USLE
618.57 Sodium Adsorption Ratio
618.58 Soil Erodibility Factors, USLE, RUSLE2
618.59 Soil Erodibility Factors for WEPP
618.60 Soil Moisture Status
618.61 Soil Slippage Potential
618.62 Soil Temperature
618.63 Subsidence, Initial and Total
618.64 Sum of Bases
618.65 Surface Fragments
618.66 T Factor
618.67 Taxonomic Family Temperature Class
618.68 Taxonomic Moisture Class
618.69 Taxonomic Moisture Subclass (Subclasses of Soil Moisture Regimes)
618.70 Taxonomic Temperature Regime (Soil Temperature Regimes)
618.71 Texture Class, Texture Modifier, and Terms Used in Lieu of Texture
618.72 Water, One-Tenth Bar
618.73 Water, One-Third Bar
618.74 Water, 15 Bar
618.75 Water, Satiated
618.76 Water Temperature
618.77 Wind Erodibility Group and Index
618.80 Guides for Estimating Risk of Corrosion Potential for Uncoated Steel
618.81 Guide for Estimating Risk of Corrosion Potential for Concrete
618.82 Crop Names and Units of Measure
618.83 Classification of Soils and Soil-Aggregate Mixtures for the AASHTO System
618.84 Potential Frost Action
618.85 Distribution of Design Freezing Index Values in the Continental United States
618.86 Estimating LL and PI from Percent and Type of Clay
618.87 Texture Triangle and Particle-Size Limits of AASHTO, USDA, and Unified Classification Systems
618.88 Guide for Estimating Ksat from Soil Properties
618.89 Guide to Estimating Water Movement Through Bedrock for Layers Designated as R and Cr
618.90 Rock Fragment Modifier of Texture
618.91 Soil Erodibility Nomograph
618.92 Kw Value Associated With Various Fragment Contents
618.93 General Guidelines for Assigning Soil Loss Tolerance “T”
618.94 Texture Class, Texture Modifier, and Terms Used in Lieu of Texture
618.95 Wind Erodibility Groups (WEG) and Index
618.96 Key Landforms and Their Susceptibility to Slippage
618.97 Example Worksheets for Soil Moisture State by Month and Depth
618.98 NASIS Calculation for Estimating AASHTO Group Index
618.99 NASIS Calculation for Estimating Cation-Exchange Capacity
618.100 NASIS Calculation for Estimating Effective Cation-Exchange Capacity
618.101 NASIS Calculation for Estimating Extractable Acidity
618.102 NASIS Calculation for Estimating Liquid Limit and Plasticity Index
618.103 NASIS Calculation for Estimating Particle Size
618.104 NASIS Calculation for Estimating Rock Fragments and Percent Passing Sieves
618.105 NASIS Calculation for Estimating Water Content Data
618.106 References