At each site, a pit was dug and the soil was described and sampled in detail. The legend and map units are of the Albanian soil classification system and these were translated to English equivalents. At each sampling site, a field classification of the soil was made using Soil Taxonomy and this process enabled the team to better understand the Albanian legend. Although the 1997 Soil Map is the most recent and perhaps most comprehensive assessment of the nation's soil resources, it does include several sources of error. None of these errors are of sufficient magnitude to reduce the quality of the map but user's must be aware of these.
Detailed surveying is necessary for the future.
Using available information, other interpretative maps were also developed as are presented this monograph. The monograph provides detailed data of 30 benchmark soils. Mineralogical and micromorphological analyses is also provided. Radio-carbon dates of some buried organic fragments were used to estimate rates of carbon sequestration in the soils. An attempt was made to define Major Land Resources Areas and the accompanying map which will be useful in policy making and targeting developmental and research activities.