Skip to main content
  2016 WVU National Soil Champs

DIGGING UP 
‘DIRT’

Members of the WVU Soils Team know their way around a soil pit – and they don’t mind getting dirty. In fact, it’s essential to developing skills necessary for describing, analyzing and interpreting soils and landscapes. 

Welcome!

Intercollegiate soil judging is an activity that occurs across the country. West Virginia University competes in the Southeast Region, along with approximately twelve other schools from Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. At the Regional Contest students are required to describe soil morphology (color, textures, structure, horizonation, etc.) and determine landscape setting, land use limitations, and taxonomy for four soils. Students have three days to practice their skills in the area of the contest, and then compete with other students to see how close they can come to the assessments of the local soil scientists. Teams whose scores rank in the top six in the Southeast Region earn the opportunity to compete in the National Collegiate Soils Contest.