This International Standard defines rules for describing soil and its environmental context at a given site. This standard describes soil description made in the field. Sites may be natural, near natural, urban or industrial. The soil observations and measurements can be made on a project site level, on a plot level, on layer of horizon level and on specific soil constituents. To be used in soil investigations this International Standard also describes how to describe layers of artificial material or layers that were not modified by pedogenetic processes s. str. and how to describe coarse material of natural or artificial origin. NOTE 1 It may not be possible or necessary to record data under all the headings listed in these descriptions. NOTE 2 An overall guidance for presentation of information from soil surveys is given in ISO 15903. NOTE 3 Sampling is done in respect to series ISO 18400.