Soil formation factors. Parent materials, climate, topography, organisms (plants and living organisms), time, with particular reference to Sardinia. Master soil horizons and layers. Munsell soil color charts. Texture and structure.
Soil Classification. USDA Soil Taxonomy: criteria, diagnostic horizons.
World Reference Base for Soil Resources. criteria, reference soil groups and second level units. Soil classification in Sardinia.
Soil water balance. General principles and methods of calculation. Soil moisture and soil temperature regimes in Sardinia. Use of water soil balance for irrigation practices
Soil profile description. Land and topography informations. Soil horizons descriptions.
Elements of cartography. Basic elements of IGM maps. Aerial images: orthophotos and stereophotos. GPS uses in land survey. Soil Maps in Sardinia.

Land Evaluation
Land evaluation for control of the degradation processes. Evaluation of the Land capability and suitability for agricultural and forestall uses . Description of the main models and examples of application in Sardinia. The risk of desertification. Causes of land degradation processes, indicators of degradation. The assessment of the risk of desertification.
Use of parametric models in land evaluation. Computer processing data for land evaluation