Description: Soil is a natural resource with tremendous spatial variability in characteristics because of differencs in parent material, age, climate, topography and vegetation. One of the distinguishing characteristics of soil is color. Color has been a keystone of all major soil classification systems. It has been used extensively as a parameter in studies of soil genesis. Even in the age of advanced instrumentation, color remains an important soil characteristic. Remote sensing techniques to map soils rely on the reflection of radiation from surfaces of differing colors as a basis to differentiate soils. Several components contribute to soil color. This special publication is designed to provide a concise description of the role each component plays in determining the color of a soil. Students, soil scientists, and researchers interested in the study of color should find the publication equally useful.
