SOIL LANDSCAPE SYSTEMS: A HOLISTIC FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING AND COMMUNICATING SOIL PROCESSES, AND DEVELOPING SOIL INVESTIGATIONS

A catena is defined as a recurring group of soils that occupies the landscape from the inter-stream divide to the stream. A Soil Landscape System can be defined as groups of catenas that dominate an area based on similar soil parent materials, geomorphology, local relief, hydrologic connectivity, geographical extent, climate or ecosystem. A Soil Landscape System approach empowers data-driven understanding of suites of soils and their interactions. It constitutes a framework for arraying soil types and highlighting the functional relationships within groups and between groups. This framework shifts emphasis away from the historical, relatively static, pedon-centric perspective, to a dynamic perspective focused on soil processes and ecosystem dynamics. Soil Landscape Systems can (a) provide the missing link of quantified data of soil and ecosystem processes at multiple scales, (b) provide and drive the evolution of conceptual models that explain soil patterns and processes which underpin modeling and digital products, (c) integrate hydropedology into soil distribution and function models, and (d) present this information in user-friendly formats. Its purpose is to incorporate knowledge of soil properties and behavior, soil-landscape relationships, science-based methods, and the capacity to derive and apply quantitative soil analyses.