THE DIGITAL SOIL MAP OF THE WORLD
NOTES
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Version 3.5, completed 3 March 1995
(C)1995
Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations.
All rights reserved worldwide.
All proprietary rights and author's rights
in FAO data contained on CD-ROM shall remain
the property of FAO. The user shall not
reproduce for the benefit of third parties
the data contained on this CD-ROM.
Applications for permission to reproduce
part or all of the data, with a statement
of the purpose and extent of the
reproduction, should be addressed to the
Director, Publications Division, Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, Via delle Terme di Caracalla,
00153, Rome, Italy.
When permission has been granted, the user
agrees to acknowledge the source of FAO data
as follows: "Source: Land and Water
Development Division, FAO, Rome" in any
public or commercial document or map or
paper reproducing FAO data, or describing
studies or computations based on the use of
such data.
FAO makes every effort to ensure accuracy of
data but assumes no responsibility for
errors and omissions in the data provided to
users nor in the documentation accompanying
it.
FAO reserves the right to make changes to
the data, codes, classification, periodicity
and series coverage. FAO also reserves all
rights to change the format of the data
provided to the user.
In case of breach by the user of any of the
clauses contained herein, FAO reserves the
right to seek appropriate compensation.
The designations employed and the
presentation of the material in the maps do
not imply the expression of any opinion
whatsoever on the part of FAO concerning the
legal or constitutional status of any
country, territory or sea area, or
concerning the delimitation of frontiers.
Preface
The FAO-Unesco Soil Map of the World was published between 1974
and 1978 at 1:5.000.000 scale. Original paper maps, the printed
legend and explanatory volumes for different regions of the world
can be obtained from:
Unesco Sales Agent
Place de Fontenoy
75700, Paris, France
The present data set is based on the Soil Map of the World. Some
errors in the original maps, in the original digitized version,
and consistency errors in the expansion file have been corrected.
The soil legend has been updated and parts of the maps may also
be updated in the future. Technical questions about the original
soil map or suggestions about new developments or for corrections
and improvements by users should be addressed to:
Director, Land and Water Development Division
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Via delle Terme di Caracalla
00100, Rome, Italy
FAX +39.6.57056275
The following NOTES provide information needed to use the
digitized version of the soil map.
Questions concerning the digitized map should be addressed to:
FAO, Distribution and Sales Section
Via delle Terme di Caracalla
00100 Rome, Italy
FAX +39.6.5705 3152/5155/5649
Questions regarding the use of the software needed to use the
digital information should be addressed to the makers of the
software (1).
_______________________________
(1) ARC/INFO is a Geographic Information System (GIS) software
sold by Environmental System Research Institute (ESRI Inc.).
Questions should be referred to:
ESRI FAX +1.909.7935953
380 New York Street TEL +1.909.7932853
92373-8100, Redlands, California Web Address:
http://www.esri.com
CONTENTS
Page
1. Introduction 1
2. Notes on the FAO-Unesco Soil Map of the World 3
- Topographic base, Sheet distribution and projections 3
- Mapping unit 3
3. FAO Digitized Soil Map of the World 8
- Data base files for the map coverage 9
- Expansion File (WORLDEXP.DAT) 11
References 15
Annex I: Soil Units 16
Annex II: Listing of Names and Content of each Export file 20
Annex III: List of Countries by Continental Region 21
Africa
North America
Central America
South America
Europe and West of the Urals
Central and North East Asia
Near East
Far East
South East Asia
Australasia
1. INTRODUCTION
The Digitized Soil Map of the World at 1:5.000.000 scale consists
of 66 EXPORT Files, arranged in ten continental areas.
There are also an expansion file, and a text file labelled
NOTES.
The ten major continental regions are:
- Africa (10 export files),
- North America (8 export files),
- Central America (2 export files),
- South America (7 export files),
- Europe and West of the Ural (8 export files),
- Central and North East Asia (8 export files),
- Near East (3 export files),
- Far East (7 export files),
- South East Asia (6 export files) and
- Australasia (7 export files)
Annex II gives a detailed listing of the names and contents
of each file. Annex III gives a world list of countries, their
codes and the continental group to which they belong.
These NOTES describe briefly (i) the elements of the legend
of the Soil Map of the World (Mapping Unit, Soil Unit, etc.),
(ii) the structure of the data base linked to the digitized
version of the Soil Map, and (iii) the expansion file of the
Soil Data Base.
The present version (3.5) of the digitized Soil Map of the
World has been cleaned of errors both in the data base and in the
lines constituting the digitized map itself.
The projection for the original map sheets covering the
Americas was the bipolar oblique conformal projection. The sheets
covering Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia, were compiled on
the Miller oblated stereographic projection. The soil map in the
digital data base (in ARC/INFO Export format) is in the
Geographic projection (Latitude - Longitude).
All maps were intersected with a template containing water
related features (coastlines, lakes, glaciers and double-lined
rivers).
The Soil Map of the World except for Africa was intersected
with the Country Boundaries map from the World Data Bank II (with
country boundaries updated to January 1994 at 1:3 000 000 scale),
obtained from the US Government. For Africa, the country
boundaries are derived from the FAO Country Boundaries on the
original FAO/Unesco Soil Map of the World. Country boundaries in
both cases were checked and adjusted in certain places on the
basis of FAO and UN conventions.
File Format: The Soil Map of the World has been written on
CD-ROM (all the **.E0* files) in ARC/INFO "EXPORT" format with
"NONE" option (no data compression). That is, they are ASCII
files and have a fixed record length of 80 bytes. Every single
**.E0* file has 23000 maximum lines. In these NOTES the two stars
(**) stand for the soil map of a single continental area such as
North America (NAMSOIL) or as Near East (NESCNTLL).
The command "ARC IMPORT" will retrieve all the data from the
**.E0* files.
File types : The CD-ROM contains three different types of
information:
(a) Each of the ten continental regions is composed by:
(i) Geographic coordinates of lines which constitute the
soil map.
(ii) Attribute files with information for each soil polygon
on the map. In this file there is one record for each
soil polygon.
The coordinate and attribute files, (i.e. the (i) and
(ii) type found in all the **.E0* files), constitute the
GIS data base for the soil map. They cannot be separated
and they can be read only by a GIS software (in this
case by ARC/INFO software). The files also contain
annotations: these are copyright and a disclaimer
statements, which should appear on the soil map
whenever it is printed.
(b) The Expansion file for the World (WORLDEXP.DAT) contains
additional information about the soil mapping units. In
this file there is one record for each mapping unit,with
comma delimited fields.
(c) A text file (NOTES) with the information written in these
pages.
These last two files (WORLDEXP.DAT and NOTES) are in DOS
TEXT (ASCII) format and can be read, and printed, by any
DOS program.
2. NOTES ON THE FAO-Unesco SOIL MAP OF THE WORLD
TOPOGRAPHIC BASE, SHEET DISTRIBUTION, AND PROJECTIONS
The soil map of the world was prepared on the base of the
topographic map series of the American Geographical Society of
New York at a nominal scale of 1:5 000 000. The base map of the
American Geographical Society of New York comprises 16 sheets;
for the purpose of the Soil Map of the World the information has
been redistributed over 18 sheets in order to obtain equal-sized
sheets. A nineteenth sheet contains the legend. The Americas are
compiled on the bipolar oblique conformal projection. The other
sheets, covering Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia, are based
on the Miller oblated stereographic projection, a system
consisting of three conformal projections centred on each
continent, joined together in a continuous fashion by so-called
"fill-in" projections. This allows a complete angular continuity
between all sheets.
MAPPING UNITS
The legend of the original soil map of the World (FAO, 1974)
comprises an estimated 4930 different map units, which consist
of soil units or associations of soil units. When a map unit is
not homogeneous, it is composed of a dominant soil and component
soils. The latter are: associated soils, covering at least 20 %
of the area; and inclusions, important soils which cover less
than 20 % of the area. The list of components for each mapping
unit is found on the back of the maps. The proportions of
dominant and component soils in each mapping unit listed in the
expansion file were derived by the Composition Rules in Table 1
(FAO, 1978).
The term "mapping unit" should not be confused with the
ARC/INFO parameter "MAP UNIT" which refers to the unit of length
on digitized maps: meters, inches or degree decimals.
SOIL UNITS: The legend of the soil map of the world (1974)
comprises 106 soil units (from Af to Zt), grouped in 26 major
soil groupings. An alphabetical list of soil unit symbols and
their names is given in Annex I.
Table 1. Composition rules for the proportions of dominant and
component soils in each mapping unit
(No.: number of associated soils or inclusions)
________________________________________________________________
Dominant Associated Soil
Soil Soil(s) Inclusion(s)
________________________________________________________________
% of Area No. % of Area No. % of Area
________________________________________________________________
100 0 0 0 0
90 0 0 1 10
80 0 0 2 10 + 10
70 0 0 3 10 + 10 + 10
70 1 30 0 0
60 1 30 1 10
60 2 20 + 20 0 0
50 2 20 + 20 1 10
50 1 30 2 10 + 10
50 1 30 4 5 + 5 + 5 + 5
40 2 20 + 20 4 5 + 5 + 5 + 5
40 1 30 1 10
40 2 20 + 20 2 10 + 10
30 3 20 + 20 + 20 1 10
30 2 20 + 20 3 10 + 10 + 10
30 3 20 + 20 + 20 2 5 + 5
25 3 20 + 20 + 20 3 5 + 5 + 5
24 3 20 + 20 + 20 4 4 + 4 + 4 + 4
________________________________________________________________
PHASES: Phases are subdivisions of soil units based on
characteristics which are significant to the use or the
management of land but which are not diagnostic for the
separation of soil units themselves. Phases are used, for
example, where indurated layers or hard rock occur at shallow
depth.
The phases are: stony, lithic, petric, petrocalcic,
petrogypsic, petroferric, phreatic, fragipan, duripan, saline,
sodic and cerrado. These are shown as overprints on the original
maps. When a phase is present in the mapping unit symbol, it is
taken to apply to the dominant soil in the mapping unit, all
associated soils and inclusions being considered unaffected.
MISCELLANEOUS LAND UNITS: These are areas of "non-soil" such
as dunes or shifting sands, salt flats, and rock debris or desert
detritus. These are also shown as overprints on the original
maps.
TEXTURE: Textural classes reflect the relative proportions
of clay (fraction less than 0.002mm), silt (0.002 - 0.05mm) and
sand (0.05 - 2mm) in the soil.
Three textural classes are recognized: coarse (1): sands,
loamy sands and sandy loams with less than 18 percent clay and
more than 65 percent sand; medium (2): sandy loams, loams, sandy
clay loams, silt loams, silt, silty clay loams and clay loams
with less than 35 percent clay and less than 65 percent sand; the
sand fraction may be as high as 82 percent if a minimum of 18
percent clay is present; and fine (3): clay, silty clays, sandy
clays, clay loams, with more than 35 percent clay.
The textural class given in the mapping unit refers to the
upper 30 cm of the dominant soil. Where two or three texture
classes are indicated, each is taken to apply to 50 or 33 percent
respectively of the dominant soil unit.
The texture classes of component soils (associated soils and
inclusions), and for dominant soils when not indicated in the
mapping unit,were derived by the Composition Rules in Table 2
(FAO, 1978):
______________________________________________________________
Table 2
______________________________________________________________
Dominant soils of mapping units where texture is not
described and all associated and included soils are considered
as medium textured (2), except:
Qc, Ql, Qf, Qa, Po, Pf, Ph, Pp, Pg, Fx, which are classified
as coarse textured (1); and,
Vp, Vc, Zt, Bc, Bv, Lv, Fr, which are classified as fine
textured (3).
______________________________________________________________
SLOPE: Slope classes indicate the slope that dominates in
the area of soil association. Three slope classes are
distinguished: level to gently undulating, with generally less
than 8 percent slope (a), rolling to hilly with slopes between
8 and 30 percent (b) and steeply dissected to mountainous, with
more than 30 percent slope (c). Where two or three slope classes
are indicated, each is taken to apply to 50 or 33 percent
respectively of the dominant soil unit. The slopes of component
soils (associations and inclusions) and dominant soils when not
indicated in the mapping unit, were derived by the Composition
Rules in Table 3 (FAO, 1978, with five soil units updated):
______________________________________________________________
Table 3
______________________________________________________________
Slope Class a: J, G, O, W, Z, S, V, Qa, Ap, Lp, Fp, Bg
Slope Classes a/b: P, Y, X, K, C, H, M, L, D, F, Q
Slope Class b: R, E, B, A, N
Slope Classes b/c: T, U, I
______________________________________________________________
When only major soil units are designated in the mapping
units (e.g. A), it is assumed that the whole mapping unit
consists of the first individual soil unit listed under the major
soil unit heading in Annex I (e.g. for A, it is Ao).
CARTOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATION
The soil associations are indicated on the original maps by
the symbol of the dominant soil unit, followed by a number which
refers to the descriptive legend on the back of the map, where
the full composition of the association is given. Associations
in which Lithosols are dominant are marked by the Lithosol symbol
I combined with one or two associated soil units or inclusions;
where there are no associated soils (or not known), the symbol
I alone is used.
When information on the texture of the surface layers (upper
30 cm) of the dominant soil is available, the textural class
figure (1, 2, 3) follows the association symbol, separated from
it by a dash. Where two or three groups of textures occur that
could not be separated on the map, two or three figures may be
used, separated by a slash.
Slope classes are indicated by a small (lower case) letter:
a, b or c, immediately following the texture notation. In complex
areas where two or three types of topography occur that cannot
be delimited on the map, two or three letters may be used. If
information on texture is not available, the small letter
indicating the slope class immediately follows the association
symbol.
Table 4 gives an example of the symbol and full composition of
a soil mapping unit. The soil composition and the texture and
slope classes distribution of this mapping unit are listed in
tables 5, 6 and 7.
______________________________________________________________
Table 4
______________________________________________________________
Bk23-2/3ab: soil mapping unit symbol;
Bk: dominant soil, covering 40 % of the
mapping unit;
Bk23: refers to the soil components described
on the back of the map (associated
soils: K, and E, each covering 20 % of
the mapping unit; and inclusions: Jc and
Zo each covering 10 % of the mapping
unit);
2/3: texture classes of the dominant soil;
ab: slope classes of the dominant soil.
_____________________________________________________________
Table 5: Composition of mapping unit: dominant, associated and
included soil units.
______________________________________________________________
Soil Unit % of mapping
unit
______________________________________
Dominant Bk 40
Associated K 20
Associated E 20
Inclusion Jc 10
Inclusion Zo 10
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Table 6: Composition of mapping unit considering soil units,
texture and slope
______________________________________________________________
Soil Unit Texture & % of mapping
Slope unit
__________________________________________
Bk 2a 10 %
Bk 2b 10 %
Bk 3a 10 %
Bk 3b 10 %
K 2a 10 %
K 2b 10 %
E 2b 20 %
Jc 2a 10 %
Zo 2a 10 %
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Table 7: Slope and texture classes of mapping unit
______________________________________________________________
Slope and Texture % of mapping
Classes unit
_____________________________________
Texture/slope class 2a 40
Texture/slope class 2b 40
Texture/slope class 3a 10
Texture/slope class 3b 10
_____________________________________
Texture 2 80
Texture 3 20
_____________________________________
Slope a 50
Slope b 50
______________________________________________________________
3. FAO DIGITIZED SOIL MAP OF THE WORLD
MAP COVERAGE: INTRODUCTION
The FAO-Unesco soil map of the world at 1:5.000.000 scale
was originally digitized in 18 sheets. The maps were digitized
in bipolar oblique conformal projection for the Americas and in
Miller oblated stereographic projection for Europe, Asia, Africa
and Australasia. The digitized information was then transformed
to Geographic projection (Latitude and Longitude expressed in
decimal degrees) for distribution on CD-ROM. The map is provided
in this projection because it is the most simple way to
represent maps in a GIS data base.
The data base contains the coordinates and codes for all the
topical information shown on the FAO-Unesco Soil Map of the
World. All data were processed in vector format using ESRI's
ARC/INFO software. The digitized soil data base is made available
in ARC EXPORT format.
The maps provided on the CD-ROM are in Geographic Projection
and the map unit is degree decimal. Therefore the AREA item on the
*.PAT files do not represent the correct area of the polygons.
The map has to be converted to an equal-area projection for
computation of the areas. However in this new version of the CD-ROM
a new item called SQKM was added to the *.PAT file which indicates
the areas (or extents) of the polygons in square Kilometer. The
values of SQKM was computed using an equal-area projection of
the map.
A 'template' layer containing the polygonal land and water
features information: coastlines, islands, lakes, glaciers and
double lined rivers was prepared and digitized for each
mapsheet. This layer was superimposed on the soil map (the
information is represented in the FAOSOIL item as: inland WATer,
and GLaciers).
Country boundaries are included in the soil data base.
The classification and coding of the soil mapping units
operates on two levels.
- First level attribute codes identify the mapping unit by
type (for example, Bk23-2/3ab or ROCK). They are composed
of the full map unit identifier, which includes the soil map
unit symbol, miscellaneous land unit, permafrost and soil
phases for each sequentially numbered map unit.
- An extensive secondary code attribute table accompanies and
is an expansion upon the first descriptive class. This gives
qualitative and quantitative values for the components of
the soil association (for the aforementioned mapping unit
Bk23-2/3ab,for example, the expansion file will list: Bk:
40%, K: 20 %, E: 20 %, Jc: 10 %, Zo: 10 %). This
information is contained in the Expansion file
(WORLDEXP.DAT).
The secondary code attribute values are related to their
corresponding first level classes through a relational data
base by a sequential code number (SNUM).
The first level of information is printed on the front of
the original paper maps (the mapping unit), while the
secondary information comprises the information on the back
of the paper maps together with specification of the
components of the mapping unit and the percentage area of
each.
DATA BASE FILES FOR THE MAP COVERAGE
After importing the **.E* files through the ARC/INFO
"IMPORT" command, the data base for the soil map of the
continental region imported is contained in the **.PAT file that
will have been created in the INFO Data Base Management System.
The template structure of the **.PAT will appear as follows:
DATA FILE NAME: **.PAT
15 ITEMS: STARTING IN COLUMN 1
COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OTPWIDTH TYPE N.DEC
1 AREA 4 12 F 3
5 PERIMETER 4 12 F 3
9 **# 4 5 B 0
13 **-ID 4 5 B 0
17 SNUM 4 4 I -
21 FAOSOIL 17 18 C -
38 PHASE1 2 3 C -
40 PHASE2 2 3 C -
42 MISCLU1 1 1 I -
43 MISCLU2 1 1 I -
44 PERMAFROST 1 1 I -
45 CNTCODE 3 3 I -
48 CNTNAME 3 3 C -
51 COUNTRY_NAME 30 30 C -
81 SQKM 12 12 I -
**REDEFINED ITEMS**
17 SOIL-INFO 64 67 C -
21 SOIL-ASSOCIATION 24 27 C -
In order to utilise and manipulate the data, the information
contained in each soil polygon had to be broken down into the
various components (FAOSOIL, PHASE1, etc.), and to simplify data
retrieval, codes were used to identify some of the soil
characteristics. For example, the stony phase will be identified
by the code 01 in the PHASE1 column.
Here follows the description of the data contained in the
template of the **.PAT.
The first four items are items assigned by ARC/INFO software
in the creation of the map, these relate the data base to the
digitized map. The remaining items refer to the soil map itself.
AREA: is the surface area of the polygon in square map units
(Columns 1-4).
PERIMETER:is the length of the polygon boundary in map units
(Columns 5-8).
**#: is the internal polygon number, automatically generated
by ARC/INFO software when creating a polygon, which
links the map feature (polygon label) to a record in
the tabular data (Columns 9-12).
**-ID: is the polygon user-ID sequence number assigned by the
user (Columns 13-16).
SNUM: is a sequential code, unique for each soil Mapping
Unit, which links the first level of soil information
to the World expansion data file (WORLDEXP.DAT). This
number ranges from 1 to 6999, some numbers in the
sequence have not been used (Columns 17-20).
FAOSOIL: is the Soil Unit map symbol, or independent
miscellaneous land unit symbol, defines either
(Columns 21-37):
- Soil Mapping Unit: the structure of this, starting with
the main soil, is explained in Table 4 (list of soils
in Annex I); or
- Independent miscellaneous land units:
D/SS = Dunes or Shifting Sand
SALT = Salt flats
ROCK = Rock debris or desert detritus; or
- Soil-covering natural features:
GL = Glaciers; or
WAT = Inland water (lakes or double lined rivers)
PHASE1 and PHASE2: comprise codes defining the phases by type:
first and second phase of the mapping unit, if present
(Columns 38-39 and 40-41):
-- = No phase or no second phase
01 = Stony
02 = Lithic
03 = Petric
04 = Petrocalcic
05 = Petrogypsic
06 = Petroferric
07 = Phreatic
08 = Fragipan
09 = Duripan
10 = Saline
11 = Sodic
12 = Cerrado
MISCLU1 and MISCLU2: comprise the codes defining the dependent
miscellaneous land units by type: first and second
miscellaneous land unit type (Columns 42 and 43):
-- = no miscellaneous land unit or no second
miscellaneous land unit
1 = Dunes or shifting sands
(2 = Not used)
3 = Salt flats
4 = Rock debris or desert detritus
PERMAFROST: indicates permafrost areas by type (Column 44)
- = Not a permafrost area
1 = Permafrost
2 = Discontinuous permafrost
CNTCODE: is a unique number for each country or area (Columns
45-47). Annex III gives a listing of country or
area names and their corresponding numbers by
continental region.
CNTNAME: is a two letter code, unique for each country or area
(Columns 48-50). Annex III gives a listing of
country or area names and the respective codes by
continental region.
COUNTRY-NAME: is the Country or area name; (Columns 51-67).
Annex III gives a listing of country or area names
by continental region.
SQKM: is the corrected extent of the polygon in square Kilometer
based on an equal area calculation.
SOIL-INFO: is a redefined item that comprises all items starting
from column 17.
SOIL-ASSOCIATION: is a redefined item that includes all soil
information, with items starting from column 21 to 43.
EXPANSION FILE (WORLDEXP.DAT)
Each record (each line) of the expansion file for the world
describes one Soil Mapping Unit, its components (Co-dominant,
Associated soils, and Inclusions), the percentage occurrence of
each soil within the Mapping Unit and percentage of their texture
and slope. The World Expansion file has 4931 records, one for
each mapping unit and a total of 99 fields and 763 columns.
The file was prepared using the following FORTRAN
statement: FORMAT (I5,A1,A13,A7,A1,8(2A,A1,F8.3,10(A1,F7.2)). All
the "A1" in this Format are commas.
The first seven items in the expansion file are common with
the items in columns 17 to 44 on the first level of information
(SNUM, FAOSOIL, PHASE1, PHASE2, MISCLU1, MISCLU2, PERMAFROST).
SNUM: (Columns 1-5) is a unique identifying number
which ranges from 1 to 1972 for Africa and from 3001
to 6998 for the rest of the World (some numbers in the
sequence were omitted).
SNUM is the item which can be used to link with the
INFO data base.
FAOSOIL: (Columns 7-19) is the soil mapping unit symbol or
independent miscellaneous land unit symbol, or other
natural feature, common with the first level of data:
- Soil Mapping Unit: The structure of this, starting
with the main soil, is explained in Table 4; or
- Independent miscellaneous land unit symbols:
D/SS = Dunes or shifting sand
SALT = Salt flats
ROCK = Rock debris or desert detritus; or
- other natural features:
WATER = Inland water (lakes, wide rivers)
GLACIER
OCEAN
- NO DATA indicates polygons for which no soil
information is available.
PHASE1 and PHASE2: (Columns 21-22, and 23-24) comprise the
first and second phase, if present:
-- = No phase or no second phase
01 = Stony
02 = Lithic
03 = Petric
04 = Petrocalcic
05 = Petrogypsic
06 = Petroferric
07 = Phreatic
08 = With Fragipan
09 = With Duripan
10 = Saline
11 = Sodic
12 = Cerrado
MISCLU1 and MISCLU2: (Columns 25 and 26) are the first and second
dependent miscellaneous land unit type, if present:
-- = no miscellaneous land units or no second
miscellaneous land unit
1 = Dunes or shifting sands
3 = Salt flats
4 = Rock debris or desert detritus
PERMAFROST: (Column 27) indicates permafrost areas by type:
- = Not a permafrost area
1 = Permafrost
2 = Discontinuous permafrost
The twelve fields described below (first field from column
29 to column 30 and last field from columns 113 to column 119)
are repeated 8 times, the first time describing parameters of the
dominant soil, the remaining seven times the characteristics of
the co-dominant, associations and/or inclusions when present.
The first two fields, described more in detail below, define
the Soil unit and its percentage occurrence, the next ten fields
give the percentage value of the texture and slope respectively:
1a,1b,1c,2a,2b,2c,3a,3b,3c,no texture and/or no slope.
These 12 fields are separated by commas.
The maximum number of components in a mapping unit is eight.
When no components are present, the fields will be empty and the
percent will contain zeroes.
SOIL UNIT (Columns 29-30): lists the dominant soil
unit code or the independent miscellaneous land
unit code:
Af - Zt = Soil unit
DS = Dunes or shifting sands
ST = Salt flats
RK = Rock debris or desert detritus
WR = Inland water or ocean
GL = Glacier
ND = No data
PERCENT (Columns 32-39) defines the area of the mapping unit
belonging to the dominant soil or miscellaneous land
unit defined in columns 29-30.
COMPONENT SOIL UNIT: (Columns 121-122) lists the component soil
unit code (Co-dominant, association or inclusion) or
the independent miscellaneous land unit:
Af - Zt = Soil unit
DS = Dunes or shifting sands
ST = Salt flats
RK = Rock debris or desert detritus
ND = No Data
PERCENT: (Columns 124-130) defines the percent of the mapping
unit belonging to the component soil (or miscellaneous
land unit) defined in columns 121-122.
Then again 10 columns and so on.
REFERENCES
(1) FAO, 1974. FAO-Unesco Soil Map of the World, 1:5.000.000.
Unesco, Paris.
(1974) Volume I, Legend
(1975) Volume II, North America
(1975) Volume III, Mexico and Central America
(1971) Volume IV, South America
(1971) Volume V, Europe
(1977) Volume VI, Africa
(1977) Volume VII, South Asia
(1978) Volume VIII, North and Central Asia
(1979) Volume IX, Southeast Asia
(1978) Volume X, Australasia.
(2) FAO, 1978. Report on the Agro-Ecological Zones Project,
World Soil Resources Report n. 48. FAO, Rome.
Vol.1, Methodology and Results for Africa
Vol.2, Results for South West Asia
Vol.5, Results for Central and South America
Vol.4, Results for South East Asia
(3) UNEP/ISSS/ISRIC/FAO 1993. Global and national soils and
terrain database (SOTER). Procedures manual. World Soil
Resources Report 74.
FAO,Rome. 122 p.
Annex I
SOIL UNITS
Alphabetical order by Symbol
A : ACRISOLS
Ao : Orthic Acrisols
Af : Ferric Acrisols
Ah : Humic Acrisols
Ap : Plinthic Acrisols
Ag : Gleyic Acrisols
B : CAMBISOLS
Be : Eutric Cambisols
Bd : Dystric Cambisols
Bh : Humic Cambisols
Bg : Gleyic Cambisols
Bx : Gelic Cambisols
Bk : Calcic Cambisols
Bc : Chromic Cambisols
Bv : Vertic Cambisols
Bf : Ferralic Cambisols
C : CHERNOZEMS
Ch : Haplic Chernozems
Ck : Calcic Chernozems
Cl : Luvic Chernozems
Cg : Glossic Chernozems
D : PODZOLUVISOLS
De : Eutric Podzoluvisols
Dd : Dystric Podzoluvisols
Dg : Gleyic Podzoluvisols
E : RENDZINAS
F : FERRALSOLS
Fo : Orthic Ferralsols
Fx : Xanthic Ferralsols
Fr : Rhodic Ferralsols
Fh : Humic Ferralsols
Fa : Acric Ferralsols
Fp : Plinthic Ferralsols
G : GLEYSOLS
Ge : Eutric Gleysols
Gc : Calcaric Gleysols
Gd : Dystric Gleysols
Gm : Mollic Gleysols
Gh : Humic Gleysols
Gp : Plinthic Gleysols
Gx : Gelic Gleysols
H : PHAEOZEMS
Hh : Haplic Phaeozems
Hc : Calcaric Phaeozems
Hl : Luvic Phaeozems
Hg : Gleyic Phaeozems
I : LITHOSOLS
J : FLUVISOLS
Je : Eutric Fluvisols
Jc : Calcaric Fluvisols
Jd : Dystric Fluvisols
Jt : Thionic Fluvisols
K : KASTANOZEMS
Kh : Haplic Kastanozems
Kk : Calcic Kastanozems
Kl : Luvic Kastanozems
L : LUVISOLS
Lo : Orthic Luvisols
Lc : Chromic Luvisols
Lk : Calcic Luvisols
Lv : Vertic Luvisols
Lf : Ferric Luvisols
La : Albic Luvisols
Lp : Plinthic Luvisols
Lg : Gleyic Luvisols
M : GREYZEMS
Mo : Orthic Greyzems
Mg : Gleyic Greyzems
N : NITOSOLS
Ne : Eutric Nitosols
Nd : Dystric Nitosols
Nh : Humic Nitosols
O : HISTOSOLS
Oe : Eutric Histosols
Od : Dystric Histosols
Ox : Gelic Histosols
P : PODZOLS
Po : Orthic Podzols
Pl : Leptic Podzols
Pf : Ferric Podzols
Ph : Humic Podzols
Pp : Placic Podzols
Pg : Gleyic Podzols
Q : ARENOSOLS
Qc : Cambic Arenosols
Ql : Luvic Arenosols
Qf : Ferralic Arenosols
Qa : Albic Arenosols
R : REGOSOLS
Re : Eutric Gleysols
Rc : Calcaric Regosols
Rd : Dystric Regosols
Rx : Gelic Regosols
S : SOLONETZ
So : Orthic Solonetz
Sm : Mollic Solonetz
Sg : Gleyic Solonetz
T : ANDOSOLS
To : Ochric Andosols
Tm : Mollic Andosols
Th : Humic Andosols
Tv : Vitric Andosols
U : RANKERS
V : VERTISOLS
Vp : Pellic Vertisols
Vc : Chromic Vertisols
W : PLANOSOLS
We : Eutric Planosols
Wd : Dystric Planosols
Wm : Mollic Planosols
Wh : Humic Planosols
Ws : Solodic Planosols
Wx : Gelic Planosols
X : XEROSOLS
Xh : Haplic Xerosols
Xk : Calcic Xerosols
Xy : Gypsic Xerosols
Xl : Luvic Xerosols
Y : YERMOSOLS
Yh : Haplic Yermosols
Yk : Calcic Yermosols
Yy : Gypsic Yermosols
Yl : Luvic Yermosols
Yt : Takyric Yermosols
Z : SOLONCHAKS
Zo : Orthic Solonchaks
Zm : Mollic Solonchaks
Zt : Takyric Solonchaks
Zg : Gleyic Solonchaks
Annex II
NAMES OF THE DIFFERENT FILES IN THE CD-ROM
Africa : AFSCNTLL.E00 to AFSCNTLL.E09
Australasia : AUSCNTLL.E00 to AUSCNTLL.E04 (Australia)
: NZSESTLL.E00 (New Zealand west of 180.00 E)
: NZSWESTL.E00 (some islands forming part of
New Zealand east of -180.00 W)
Central America : CASCNTLL.E00 to CASCNTLL.E01
Central and : CENASLL.E00 to CENASLL.E02
North East Asia : SIBSCNTL.E00 to SIBSCNTL.E04
Europe and West
of the Urals : EUSCNTLL.E00 to EUSCNTLL.E07
Far East : FESCNTLL.E00 to FESCNTLL.E06
North America : NAMSOIL.E00 to NAMSOIL.E07
Near East : NESCNTLL.E00 to NESCNTLL.E02
South America : SASCNTLL.E00 to SASCNTLL.E06
South East Asia : SEASESTL.E00 to SEASESTL.E04(west of 180.00 E)
: SEASWEL.E00 (some islands in the Pacific east
of -180.00 W)
Annex III
NUMERIC AREA CODE (1), TWO-LETTER CODE, AND FULL COUNTRY NAME
Africa
4 AG ALGERIA
7 AO ANGOLA
20 BC BOTSWANA
29 BY BURUNDI
32 CM CAMEROUN
35 CV CAPE VERDE
37 CT CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
39 CD CHAD
45 CN COMOROS
46 CF CONGO
53 BN BENIN
59 EG EGYPT
61 EK EQUATORIAL GUINEA
511 ER ERITREA
62 ET ETHIOPIA
72 DJ DJIBOUTI
74 GB GABON
75 GA GAMBIA
81 GH GHANA
90 GV GUINEA
107 IV IVORY COAST
114 KE KENYA
122 LT LESOTHO
123 LI LIBERIA
124 LY LIBYA
129 MA MADAGASCAR
130 MI MALAWI
133 ML MALI
136 MR MAURITANIA
137 MP MAURITIUS
143 MO MOROCCO
144 MZ MOZAMBIQUE
147 WA NAMIBIA
158 NG NIGER
159 NI NIGERIA
175 PU GUINEA BISSAU
181 ZI ZIMBABWE
182 RE REUNION
184 RW RWANDA
193 TP SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE
195 SG SENEGAL
197 SL SIERRA LEONE
201 SO SOMALIA
202 SF SOUTH AFRICA
203 SP CANARIES
206 SU SUDAN
209 WZ SWAZILAND
215 TZ TANZANIA
-------------------
(1) For more information on the Numeric Area Code, refer
to the end of Annex III.
217 TO TOGO
222 TS TUNISIA
226 UG UGANDA
233 UV BURKINA FASO
250 CG CONGO, DEM. R.
251 ZA ZAMBIA
174 PO MADEIRA
** An area in the western part of Sahara
Central America
8 AC ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
12 BF BAHAMAS
14 BB BARBADOS
23 BH BELIZE
239 VI BR VIRGIN ISLANDS
36 CJ CAYMAN IS
48 CS COSTA RICA
49 CU CUBA
55 DO DOMINICA
56 DR DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
60 ES EL SALVADOR
86 GJ GRENADA
87 GP GUADELOUPE
89 GT GUATEMALA
93 HA HAITI
95 HO HONDURAS
109 JM JAMAICA
135 MB MARTINIQUE
138 MX MEXICO
142 MH MONTSERRAT
151 NA NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
157 NU NICARAGUA
166 PM PANAMA
177 RQ PUERTO RICO
188 SC ST KITTS AND NEVIS
189 ST ST LUCIA
191 SV ST VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
220 TD TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
224 TK TURKS AND CAICOS
240 VQ US VIRGIN ISLANDS
South America
9 AR ARGENTINA
19 BL BOLIVIA
21 BR BRAZIL
40 CI CHILE
44 CO COLOMBIA
58 EC ECUADOR
65 FA FALKLAND ISLANDS
(MALVINAS)
69 FG FRENCH GUIANA
91 GY GUYANA
169 PA PARAGUAY
170 PE PERU
207 NS SURINAME
234 UY URUGUAY
236 VE VENEZUELA
North America
33 CA CANADA
85 GL GREENLAND
231 US UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
South East Asia
26 BX BRUNEI
115 CB CAMBODIA
176 EA EAST TIMOR
66 FJ FIJI
101 ID INDONESIA
120 LA LAOS
131 MY MALAYSIA
28 BM MYANMAR
153 NC NEW CALEDONIA
168 PP PAPUA NEW GUINEA
171 RP PHILIPPINES
244 SS SAMOA
200 SN SINGAPORE
25 BP SOLOMON ISLANDS
216 TH THAILAND
219 TN TONGA
155 NH VANUATU
237 VM VIETNAM
Australasia
10 AS AUSTRALIA
156 NZ NEW ZEALAND
Near East, Far East
2 AF AFGHANISTAN
13 BA BAHRAIN
16 BG BANGLADESH
18 BT BUTHAN
41 CH CHINA
50 CY CYPRUS
76 GZ GAZA
96 HK HONG KONG
100 IN INDIA
102 IR IRAN
103 IZ IRAQ
105 IS ISRAEL
110 JA JAPAN
112 JO JORDAN
116 KN KOREA DE.PEOPLE'S REP.
117 KS KOREA REPUBLIC OF
118 KU KUWAIT
121 LE LEBANON
141 MG MONGOLIA
149 NP NEPAL
221 MU OMAN
165 PK PAKISTAN
179 QA QATAR
194 SA SAUDI ARABIA
38 CE SRI LANKA
212 SY SYRIA
225 TC UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
246 YE YEMEN
D1: stands for Discrepancy in borders between Jordan and Israel,
corresponding to Jerusalem, West Bank and Noman's Land (989,
994 and 990 area codes).
D2: stands for Discrepancy in borders between Syria and Israel,
corresponding to Golan (987 area code).
D3: stands for Neutral Zone (between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, 993
area code).
D4-D5: stand for the parts of Kashmir under Pakistan and India
administration respectively (992 and 998 area codes).
D6: stands for Aksai Chin and small pockets of land further
south along the China - India border (996 area code).
Data on Sikkim are included with India. Data for China include
those for Taiwan province of China. Data on Cyprus in all
instances refer to the whole island.
Europe and West of the Urals
3 AL ALBANIA
6 AN ANDORRA
308 AM ARMENIA
11 AU AUSTRIA
309 AZ AZERBAIJAN
306 WH BALARUS
15 BE BELGIUM
320 YB BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
27 BU BULGARIA
318 YC CROATIA
51 CZ CZECH REPUPLIC
510 ZC SLOVAK REPUBLIC
54 DA DENMARK
300 EO ESTONIA
64 FO FAEROE ISLANDS
321 YR FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF
YUGOSLAVIA
67 FI FINLAND
68 FR FRANCE
307 GO GEORGIA
78 GE GERMANY
82 GI GIBRALTAR
84 GR GREECE
97 HU HUNGARY
99 IC ICELAND
104 ER IRELAND
106 IT ITALY
301 LV LATVIA
125 LS LIECHTENSTEIN
302 LN LITHUANIA
991 LU LUXEMBOURG
324 YD MACEDONIA
134 MT MALTA
304 MV MOLDOVA
150 NL NETHERLANDS
162 NO NORWAY
173 PL POLAND
174 PO PORTUGAL
304 MV REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
183 RO ROMANIA
228 UR RUSSIAN FEDERATION
317 YL SLOVENIA
203 SP SPAIN
210 SW SWEDEN
211 SZ SWITZERLAND
223 TU TURKEY
305 UC UKRAINA
229 UK UNITED KINGDOM
Data for the area of former Yugoslavia reflect the UN 1992
situation.
Central and North East Asia
228 UR RUSSIAN FEDERATION
312 KZ KAZAKHSTAN
314 KG KYRGYZSTAN
311 TM TURKMENISTAN
313 TA TAJIKISTAN
310 UZ UZBEKISTAN
Information on Numeric Area Code
The two-letter code is ad hoc and does not conform to other
conventions such as the ISO 2-letter code. The numeric code
largely follows the FAO-ESS code, which is used for statistical
databases provided by FAO and which will be used throughout
WAICENT, FAO's World Agricultural Information Centre.
Differences, which will be eliminated in so far as possible in
further versions of the Digitized Soil Map of the World, are
listed below:
Africa: Ethiopia - code 62 refers to the former Ethiopia
PDR which included the area of Eritrea. The code
for Ethiopia will be 238.
Eritrea - code 511, will be 178
An area in the western part of the Sahara - code
**, will be 205
Europe: Czech Republic - code 51 refers to the former
Czechoslovakia. The code for the Czech republic
will be 167.
Slovak Republic - code 510 will be : Slovakia 199
Europe and Central + North East Asia:
Russian Federation - code 228 refers to the former
Soviet Union. The code for the Russian Federation
will be 185.
All codes in the list larger than 299 will be changed in
accordance with the FAO-ESS codes. These, and a comparison with
ISO and UN codes, are given in Annex 4 of UNEP/ISSS/ISRIC/FAO
1993.
If new or additional numerical codes are needed (for example
for a new country or area), or for any queries, please contact
Statistics Division (ESS), User Services
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Via delle Terme di Caracalla
00100 Rome, Italy
FAX No: +39.6.57053152 or +39.6.57055155
