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The National Technical Committee for Hydric Soils has updated the Field Indicators of Hydric Soils in the United States to version 8.0. Hardcopies are available from the NRCS distribution center and in electronic format.

The updated version of the Field Indicators includes all changes made in the errata for version 7.0. There are also two general format changes that were made to some indicators to provide better consistency and clarity that have no effect on the requirements of the indicator. The first change is that the word within was removed and replaced with at a depth ≤. For example F3. Depleted Matrix used to read “… starting within 25 cm…” and now reads “…starting at a depth ≤25 cm…” The other general format change that was made is in indicators that used to give thickness requirement entirely within a bottom depth. These indicators now state the thickness requirement and the top depth. For example F6. Redox Dark Surface used to read “…10 cm thick entirely within 30 cm…” and now reads “…10 cm thick starting at a depth ≤20 cm…” These wording changes do not change the requirements of any indicator, therefore a soils that met the indicator the way it was previously worded should still meet the indicator and a soil that did not meet the indicator will continue to not meet that indicator. The changes were made due to many questions brought about by confusion caused by the original wording and many recommendations to make these changes to provide better clarity and consistency with wording of other indicators.