Soil Type Reference and Administrative Area for Soil Regionalization in China

In the past,soil type names involved in soil regionalization programs in China were those adopted by internationally unknown and imcomparable Genetic Soil Classification of China(GSCC) system.Consequently,both soil names and soil regions concerned in such regionalization programs were not good for scientific exchange and comparison in the world,even in China itself.Besides,lack of adequate correlation between soil regions delineated in such regionalization programs and administrative zones resulted in difficulties for application of soil profile data and soil region data.In this paper,soil names adopted in GSCC are converted into those adopted in Chinese Soil Taxonomy(CST) and US Soil Taxonomy(ST) respectively on the basis of detail soil region data in 1981 regionalization program and soil name reference system.At the same time,with the aid of GIS,the correlation between 8 great soil regions in 1981 regionalization program and their corresponding administrative areas at both prefecture and county levels are determined,and for more detail case study,the correlation between the soil region of low-mountain-hilly south of the Changjiang River as well as northern Taiwan in the same program and their corresponding administrative areas is also discussed.