Finding and Describing Horizons

Auger Technique

Soil Science Basics

Soil & the Environment

Working with soil

Soil & Students

Soil & Agriculture

1. Identify an area where you can dig four holes where the soil profiles should be similar.

Trees

2. Spread a plastic bag, tarp, board, or other surface on the ground next to where you will dig your first hole.

Making an auger hole 1 meter in depth

3. Assemble a profile of the top 1 meter of the soil by removing successive samples with the auger and laying them end-to-end as follows:

Laying out auger profile

4. Identify each horizon and measure its thickness using the depth of the auger hole.

Measuring hole depth

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