Field Guide for Describing Regolith and Landforms
CF Pain
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The use of standard terminology for the characterisation of site attributes, such as landform and vegetation, and for the description of regolith has
obvious benefits for the various organisations in Australia concerned with
regolith investigations. Some uniformity in the description of regolith
has been achieved over the years with the publication of RTMAP Regolith
Database Field Book and Users Guide (Pain et al. 1991, 2007), Regolith
landform mapping in the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia: towards a
standardised approach (Craig et al. 1999) and Genesis, classification and
atlas of ferruginous materials, Yilgarn Craton (Anand et al. 2002).
Because there are a number of possible approaches (for example, in setting
class limits) for many attributes, the classes adopted here are taken, where
possible, from Australian standards—and in particular The Australian Soil
and Land Survey Field Handbook (McDonald et al. 1990, NCST 2008),
which is considered to be most appropriate for Australian conditions.
This Guide is based largely on the field component of Pain et al. (2007). It
covers a range of field observations that are convenient to measure or observe,
and are relevant both to practical problems of mineral exploration and natural
resource management, and the scientific study of regolith. Improvements will
depend to a degree on the use of more systematic methods in the recording
of field observations, in order to test the underlying, often un-stated models
that often guide the recording of such observations. It is hoped that the use
of this Guide will allow the development of more concise, or more relevant,
field observations than those recommended in it. Improvements will come
only from knowledge of the precise needs of clients.
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