Re: Meaning of "within"

The use of term “within” does mean “less than or equal to”. Both Soil Taxonomy and the Keys to Soil Taxonomy have a number of terms and definitions that could be improved upon to provide clarity and consistency. Such will be noted and included in the next edition of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy. Thank you for your comment and attention to detail.

It is certainly true that some of the terms in Soil Taxonomy do leave some ambiguity. Seldom in the real world of soils does a feature or property occur exactly upon, and only upon, the cusp of a break in the classification system. On the rare occasion when it does, it becomes the responsibility of the describer to tell the true story. For example, placement of a tape measure exactly at the soil surface is difficult to do reliably within a couple millimeters, so judgement must be exercised in the execution of a soil description. Often, simply moving the tape left or right a few cm could yield a different result, depending upon your inclination to either include, or exclude the feature. Therefore, it the responsibility of the describer to be clearly communicate their understanding of the soil landscape to the reader. They should not leave us guessing whether it ‘in’ or it is ‘out’. The describer must make the call when they select and describe the pedon they choose to represent the real world.

Could these terms be clarified or defined more precisely? Yes, it is something we should and can do when especially when it becomes apparent the language is causing confusion. We don’t want to increase complexity or wordiness of the definitions or requirements unnecessarily, but could define our terminology better up front, one time. Soil Taxonomy is a book of a thousand authors, each of whom have expressed themselves slightly differently. In each edition of the Keys, we have attempted provide more clarity and to correct inconsistencies, even where in parts where no amendments had been requested. More work remains.