Additional Resources
Resources for Understanding Soils and Writing Soil Descriptions
- Vogel, Gregory. 2002. A Handbook of Soil Description for Archeologists. Technical Paper 11. Arkansas Archaeological Survey, Fayetteville.
- Soil Survey Staff. 2024. Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils, Version 4.0. US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2025-05/Field-Book-for-Describing-and-Sampling-Soils-Ver4.pdf. - Anderson et al. 2021. Soil Judging in Iowa. Iowa State University, Ames.
https://shop.iastate.edu/extension/farm-environment/crops-and-soils/soil-fertility-and-management/crop3168a.html.
Resources for Understanding NRCS Soil Survey Methods
- NRCS. 2015. From the Ground Down: An Introduction to Iowa Soil Surveys. US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2024-10/FromTheGroundDown.pdf. - Soil Science Division Staff. 2017. Soil Survey Manual. Agriculture Handbook 18. US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/The-Soil-Survey-Manual.pdf. - Soil Survey Staff. 2022. Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 13th Edition. US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/Keys-to-Soil-Taxonomy.pdf. - Soil Survey Staff. 2015. Illustrated Guide to Soil Taxonomy, Version 2.0. US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-06/Illustrated_Guide_to_Soil_Taxonomy.pdf. - Soil Survey Staff. 1999. Soil Taxonomy: A Basic System of Soil Classification for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys, Second Edition. USDA Handbook 436. US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-06/Soil%20Taxonomy.pdf.
Other Map Resources
- Landforms of Iowa
- Iowa Geological Survey STATEMAP products (IGS 2025).
- USGS topographic maps (USGS 2018, 2025).
- Aerial and lidar imagery (e.g. ISUGISSRF 2025).
- Other published maps, descriptions, and studies from the geologic and archaeological literature.