Maynard A. Fosberg Soil Monoliths

Maynard A. Fosberg Soil Monolith Collection

Maynard A. Fosberg founded the laboratory in 1960 to better understand Idaho’s soil resources. He began assembling the collection shortly after his arrival at the university in 1949.

The collection contains approximately 235 soils from the state of Idaho, the Pacific Northwest and the United States. It represents one of the most unique teaching resources at University of Idaho, with the entire collection displayed on the walls of the first floor of the Agricultural Sciences Building on the Moscow campus. The collection is one of the largest in the U.S.

The collection was officially dedicated in 1998 to Maynard A. Fosberg. It underwent a complete renovation in 2004, with Jason Jimenez’s assistance, and Anita Falen enhanced the collection with new informational cards and a comprehensive database.

In 2007, Ding Johnson added railings to secure and protect the monolith collection. For 28 years, Paul McDaniel was the pedology laboratory’s principal investigator. He also created the widely used and comprehensive Twelve Soil Orders website that remains a valuable resource for educators and researchers nationally.  

Fosberg slideshow for making a soil monolith (pdf)

Contact Robert Heinse in the Department of Soil and Water Systems to learn more at rheinse@uidaho.edu.

Research

The Pedology Laboratory at University of Idaho is housed in the Department of Soil and Water Systems. Pedology explores the formation, nature, ecology and classification of soil.

The lab’s current research focuses on the environmental factors and processes that form soils and ultimately influence their use and management.

In addition to ongoing research, the laboratory maintains an extensive database of the chemical, physical and mineralogical properties of over 5,000 analyzed pedons.