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COMPOUND LAND UTILIZATION TYPE: a land utilization type consisting of more than one kind of use or purpose, either undertaken in regular succession on the same land, or simultaneously undertaken on separate areas of land which for purposes of evaluation are treated as a single unit (cf. multiple land utilization type).
CONDITIONALLY SUITABLE: a phase of the land suitability order Suitable, employed in circumstances where small areas of land within the survey area are unsuitable or poorly suitable for a particular use under the management specified for that use, but suitable given that certain other land improvements or management practices are employed.
CURRENT LAND SUITABILITY CLASSIFICATION: a land suitability classification based on the suitability of land for a specified use in its present condition, without major land improvements (cf. potential land suitability classification).
DIAGNOSTIC CRITERION: a variable, which may be a land quality, a land characteristic or a function of several land characteristics, that has an understood influence on the output from, or the required inputs to, a specified kind of land use, and which serves as a basis for assessing the suitability of a given type of land for that use. For every diagnostic criterion there will be a critical value or set of critical values which are used to define suitability class limits.
KIND OF LAND USE: this term refers to either a major kind of land use or a land utilization type (q.v.), whichever is applicable; where the meaning is clear it is abbreviated to "kind of use" or "use".
LAND: an area of the earth's surface, the characteristics of which embrace all reasonably stable, or predictably cyclic, attributes of the biosphere vertically above and below this area including those of the atmosphere, the soil and underlying geology, the hydrology, the plant and animal populations, and the results of past and present human activity, to the extent that these attributes exert a significant influence on present and future uses of the land by man.
LAND CHARACTERISTIC: an attribute of land that can be measured or estimated.
LAND EVALUATION: the process of assessment of land performance when used for specified purposes" involving the execution and interpretation of surveys and studies of landforms, soils, vegetation, climate and other aspects of land in order to identify and make a comparison of promising kinds of land use in terms applicable to the objectives of the evaluation.
LAND IMPROVEMENT: an alteration in the qualities of land which improves its potential for land use (of. major land improvement, minor land improvement).
LARD MAPPING WRIT: an area of land demarcated on a map, and possessing specified land characteristics and/or qualities.
LAND QUALITY: a complex attribute of land which acts in a manner distinct from the actions of other land qualities in its influence on the suitability of land for a specified kind of use.
LAND SUITABILITY: the fitness of a given type of land for a specified kind of land use.
LAND SUITABILITY CATEGORY: a level within a land suitability classification. Four categories of land suitability are recognized;
: a grouping of land according to whether it is Suitable or Not Suitable for a specified kind of use.Land suitability order
Land suitability class: a subdivision of a land suitability order serving to distinguish types of land which differ in degree of suitability.
Land suitability subclass: a subdivision of a land suitability class serving to distinguish types of land having the same degree of suitability but differing in the nature of the limitations which determine the suitability class.
Land suitability unit: a subdivision of a land suitability subclass serving to distinguish types of land having minor differences in management or improvement requirements.
LAND SUITABILITY CLASSIFICATION: an appraisal and grouping, or the process of appraisal and grouping, of specific types of land in terms of their absolute or relative suitability for a specified kind of use.
LAND UTILIZATION TYPE: a kind of land use described or defined in a degree of detail greater than that of a major kind of land use (q.v.).
LIMITATION: a land quality, or its expression as a diagnostic criterion, which adversely affects the potential of land for a specified kind of use.
MAJOR LAND IMPROVEMENT: a large non-recurrent input in land improvement which causes a substantial and reasonably permanent (i.e. lasting in excess of about 10 years) change in the suitability of the land, and which cannot normally be financed or executed by an individual farmer or other land user (cf. minor land improvement).
MAJOR KIND OF LAND USE: a major subdivision of rural land use, such as rainfed agriculture, irrigated agriculture, grassland, forestry, recreation.
MATCHING: the process of mutual adaptation and adjustment of the descriptions of land utilization types and the increasingly known land qualities.
MINOR LAND IMPROVEMENT: a land improvement which has relatively small effects on the suitability of land, or is non-permanent, or which normally lies within the capacity of an individual farmer or other land user (cf. major land improvement).
MULTIPLE LAND UTILIZATION TYPE: a land utilization type consisting of more than one kind of use or purpose simultaneously undertaken on the same land, each with its own inputs, requirement e and produce or other benefits.
POTENTIAL LAND SUITABILITY CLASSIFICATION: a land suitability classification based on the suitability of land for a given use after specified major land improvements (q.v.) have been completed where necessary.
PRODUCE: the products (e.g. crops, livestock products, timber), services (e.g. recreational facilities, military training facilities) or other benefits (e.g. wildlife conservation) resulting from the use of land.
QUALITATIVE LAND SUITABILITY CLASSIFICATION: a land suitability classification in which the distinctions between classes are made in terms which do not meet the requirements of a quantitative land suitability classification (q.v.).
QUANTITATIVE LAND SUITABILITY CLASSIFICATION: a land suitability classification in which the distinctions between classes are defined in common numerical terms, usually economic, which permit objective comparison between classes relating to different kinds of land use.
SUSTAINED USE: continuing use of land without severe and/or permanent deterioration in the qualities of the land.