CSIRO National Soil Site Database

Brief description

The CSIRO National Soil Site database (Natsoil) currently contains descriptions from over 40,000 soil site investigations. The data includes morphological descriptions, chemical, physical and mineralogical properties, as well as spectral predictions and soil specimen management data. The database is integral to the The Australian National Soil Archive, provides the foundation for the development of a national soil spectral library and contributes to the TERN Soil Landscapes national soil property modelling.

All available data is made accessible through the Australian National Soil Information System (ansis.net) or via the JSON API in the Related links section below. This is a live connection to the database and the data that can be accessed is subject to change.

The database schema is based on the SITES V2 national standard. See supporting files section.



Lineage: Current holdings reflect soil data collected since 1926. While the database was originally comprised solely of data related to research projects and field stations that CSIRO manages, it now also includes sites from other national collaborative projects (e.g. The Northern Australia Water Resource Assessment NAWRA). Where state and territory agencies and other organisations have submitted specimens to the Australian National Soil Archive (ANSA), the associated site and analytical data is maintained here also. Data curation is an ongoing activity to support research projects and enable long term access. The database is continually enriched by new projects that contribute their data and samples, to ANSA.