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A simple guide for describing soils 2nd ed – WA (Booklet)

This Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development WA (DPIRD WA) booklet is a simple guide for describing soils in the paddock. It helps to identify the most important parts of a soil profile and provides an easy way to understand and explain what you see. The guide gives a step-by-step guide of what soil properties to describe and how to describe them, along with the tools to make basic soil classifications. It includes a list of supporting resources. Professor Rich Bell (Murdoch University) covers similar information in the Soil CRC webinar Soil characterisation in WA ( 2021) [43:14]. While this guide is designed for use with Western Australian soils, it is relevant for use across Australia [PDF 8.1 MB, 42 pages]. #

Contents:
About soil
Main soil properties used for describing soil
Other important soil-related properties
Other important land-related properties
Soil types and classification
Examples of simple soil classification
Glossary
Resources related to this guide
Brief soil description card (site card)

  • Audience: RSP, tertiary students, landholders, SFSG, consultants
  • State: ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA
  • Author/Editor: A Stuart-Street, N Short, P Galloway and N Schoknecht
  • Publisher: DPIRD WA
  • Resource Type: Booklet
  • Copyright Year: 2025
  • Not Provided
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Resource Last Updated: May 14, 2026

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