TWELVE SOIL ORDERS OF THE WORLD..and The One I like the Best

This is a link to the 12 Orders of Soil in the World

http://soils.cals.uidaho.edu/soilorders/orders.htm

My Favorite Soil is ANDISOLS. I think it is because of the years we lived in HAWAII. We lived on Oahu. The soil there is so dark and rich looking! I looked up the soils for Hawaii, and the report actually said that for such a small land mass, the Islands of Hawaii have at least 9 to 10 of the 12 soil orders. I am attaching a really informative report I read - it was produced at the University of Hawaii. Here is the link. It has great illustrative CHOROPLETH maps :) , and information about the soils on each island of Hawaii

http://hilo.hawaii.edu/academics/cafnrm/research/documents/hawaii_soils706.pdf

Here are some pictures of the volcano in Hawaii...


  

This was a lava flow trail down to the ocean YEEEEAAAARRRS ago, but now, it is beautiful lush land, with ANDISOL soil :)

I have been here...unbelievable and awesome!!!

Below are general facts about ANDISOLS.
Properties:
A typical soil profile show a thick, dark-colored, greasy mineral horizon (e.g. melanic epipedon), a weakly developed cambic subsurface horizon (Bw), and relatively unaltered volcanic or volcanoclastic parent material
Climate:
Andisols form in all soil moisture and all soil temperature regimes, except pergelic. Formation of Andisols in arid regions is limited because of slow weathering of volcanic parent materials.
Vegetation:
Andisols develop under a variety of vegetation types ranging from coniferous and deciduous forest, tundra, to shrubs.
Relief: 
Andisols are found on any topography, however, often they occur on steep slopes formed by volcanic activity
Parent Material:
 The vast majority of Andisols formed from pyroclastic deposits (volcanic ejecta) such as ash, pumice, cinders, and lava. Volcanic terrains have a greater variety of rock-types than other surface environment on earth. These terrains include lavas, pyroclastic deposits (from explosions), and deposits from a wide range of sedimentary processes that occur in volcanic terrains. The nature of volcanic material ejected from a volcano varies greatly in time and space and determines the size of particles, composition of materials, and depth of volcanic material deposited. Rapid cooling of the molten materials upon ejection prevents crystallization of minerals with long range atomic order, and the resulting product is vitric material or volcanic glass, which are dominated by amorphous, short-range-order minerals.
Distinguishing Characteristics
The geographic distribution of Andisols is closely related to volcanoes that are active or have been active during the Holocene. Soils formed on older volcanic deposits are dominated by crystalline aluminosilicates or the material is mixed with other parent material, therefore, the criteria to qualify for Andisols are not given. Andisols are limited to soils formed on volcanic materials that have weathered enough to produce short-range-order organo-metallic and aluminosilicate compounds, but that have not weathered to the point where crystalline materials predominate or where significant transformations has occured.
Soils from a variety of soil orders may be found on volcanic terrains, but Andisols are almost exclusively confined to the pyroclastic materials. Soils developed in pyroclastic and other fragmental volcanic materials occupy only about 0.8% of the earth's surface. However, because of their very distinct characteristics, they are recognized as a separate soil order in soil taxonomy.
Most Andisols are formed from specific parent material (volcanic ejecta). Few soil orders, except Histosols, have such a specific range of parent materials and depositional environments.
The separation between Spodosols and Andisols is difficult, because short-range order aluminosilicates and organo-metallic complexes occur in the B horizons of soils of both orders. A distinguishing characteristic is the transformations in situ and lack of intensive illuviation of these compounds in Andisols.
**Info retrieved from University of Wisconsin. Here is the link for reference:
http://www.soils.wisc.edu/courses/SS325/soilorders.htm