World Reference Base for Soil Resources

The World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is the international standard taxonomic soil classification system endorsed by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS). It was developed by an international collaboration coordinated by the International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC) and sponsored by the IUSS and the FAO via its Land & Water Development division. It replaces the previous FAO soil classification.

The WRB borrows heavily from modern soil classification concepts, including USDA soil taxonomy, the legend for the FAO Soil Map of the World 1988, the Référentiel Pédologique and Russian concepts. The classification is based mainly on soil morphology as an expression of pedogenesis. A major difference with USDA soil taxonomy is that soil climate is not part of the system, except insofar as climate influences soil profile characteristics. As far as possible, diagnostic criteria match those of existing systems, so that correlation with national and previous international systems is as straightforward as possible.

The WRB is meant for correlation of national and local systems. The level of detail corresponds to USDA soil taxonomy subgroups, without the soil climate information. The second edition was not detailed enough for mapping at scales larger than about 1:200 000, and a third edition has been published, improving the system for soil mapping.

Conceptual identification key to the 32 reference soil groups:. To properly classify a soil profile, the detailed procedures explained in the WRB report must be followed.

Following is a highly simplified description of each reference soil group.

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