The National Cooperative Soil Survey and Soil Systems Research.

Geology, geomorphology, and climate create natural soil regions that have distinctive landscapes and recurring patterns of associated soils. These distinctive soil associations, referred to as soil systems, are expected to have similar landscape relationships, properties and behavior throughout their extent. The emphasis of soil systems research is to develop cooperative projects through the National Cooperative Soil Survey among NRCS, universities, and other local, state, and federal agencies with the goal of elucidating and documenting important soil and landscape characteristics, processes, and relationships. Application of this knowledge is expected to improve accuracy of soil maps; enhance understanding of soil-landscape relationships, connectivity among soils, and soil response to disturbance; and strengthen interpretations of soil behavior and response to management. A secondary goal of this research approach is to provide sites with extensive data for hands-on training of students and new employees in soil-landscape analysis, sample design, sampling methods, and digital and classical soil mapping techniques. This paper will describe ongoing and potential future soil system research projects.