ABSTRACT
In the Czech Republic soil surveys cover almost all the national territory. To some extent the success of the soil inventory was due to the existence of a simple and adequate soil classification. The existing classifications were upgraded and harmonized with world classifications; in the case of the European Union it is the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) (IUSS Working Group WRB, 2006). Many European countries, even the smaller ones, developed their own soil classifications for large-scale soil survey. The Czech and Slovak republics, for example, after their peaceful separation, developed their own classifications. At the higher levels of taxonomy these soil classifications are harmonized with the WRB, and, thus, seem very similar at first glance. The Czech classification (Němeček et al, 2001) is a good example of such a tendency. It is similar to other new European classifications (like the Romanian, Slovak or Polish classifications), but has a number of particular features at lower levels, mainly used for large-scale soil mapping.
