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Capital letters naming layers down a soil profile.
Also known as: Soil profile letters, Horizon designation
A soil profile is described by lettered horizons: O for organic litter, A for topsoil, B for subsoil, C for weathered parent material and R for bedrock. Lowercase suffixes qualify each, and the sequence rather than any depth is what identifies a soil type.
Name the layers of a soil profile with capital letters from the surface downwards.
Contexts: Technical drawing, Maps
Use lowercase suffixes to qualify a horizon, so the letters carry a description rather than merely a position.
Contexts: Technical drawing, Maps
Identify a soil by the sequence and character of its horizons rather than by their depths, which vary with site.
Contexts: Technical drawing, Maps
Capital letters with small lowercase suffixes printed down the side of a drawn soil section.