131 Horizon designation
Dictionary: d_hori_disc
The horizon designation is a combination of several symbols:
-
Discontinuity: A number that gives information about discontinuities, i.e. the number of materials in which the soil has formed, e.g. 1 for first material. This number is stored in the field HORIZON_DISCONTINUITY.
-
Master horizon: One or several capital letters that designate the type of master horizon (e.g. A, B, E, C) or transitional horizon (e.g. ‘AB’). These letters are stored in the field HORIZON_MASTER. Common syntax and content-wise checks run during data submission to ensure data quality (more details in section below).
-
Subordinate symbol: Lowercase letters that designate subordinate symbol of the horizon, e.g. ‘h’. These letters are stored in the field HORIZON_SUBORDINATE. Common syntax and content-wise checks run during data submission to ensure data quality (more details in section below).
-
Vertical subdivisions: The number of vertical subdivisions, e.g. 1 for one vertical subdivision, is stored in the field HORIZON_VERTICAL.
Tests for master horizon
The tests check if following rules are respected:
- For the master horizon’s designation following symbols are valid: A, B, C, E, H, O, R, which can be freely combined either in a series or separated by a slash (/). In addition, the symbols I, L, W can also be used, but as single letters only.
- Always use capital letters and remove blank spaces.
- A slash (/) at the end without a letter hereinafter will rise an error.
Tests for subordinate horizon
The tests check if following rules are respected:
- no blank spaces
- Double letters one after another will rise an error
A list of valid subordinate symbols and their explanation is listed in EI 134
* Guidelines for soil description, Fourth edition, FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS, Rome, 2006 (https://www.fao.org/3/a0541e/a0541e.pdf, 27.04.2022)