ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a number of weather-related factors that affect the ease or difficulty of soil description and sampling in the field and other site surface features at locations where soils are described or sampled. Climate exerts a profound influence on soil directly through soil forming and weathering processes such as precipitation, evapotranspiration, and temperature, and indirectly by its influence on vegetation. High winds create unfavorable conditions for soil sampling, especially when soil is dry, because of the possibility of contamination from blowing surface soil and the mobilization of contaminated subsoil that is brought to the surface. Slope is an important site feature that influences the distribution of precipitation between the soil and surface runoff, and the movement of soil water. The activities of soil macro- and mesofauna tend to increase the secondary permeability of soil horizons and thus provide preferential paths for subsurface migrations of contaminants.
