In Jordan, Hydrometer method by Gee and Bauder (1986) is commonly used.

Less than 0,002 mm - clay

0,002-0,05 mm - silt

0,05 - 2 mm - sand

Please see this paper: A Unifying Quantitative Analysis of Soil Texture

https://www.agronomy.org/publications/sssaj/abstracts/48/1/SS0480010142

Please also see this paper: Assessment of Influence and Inter-Relationships of Soil Properties in Irrigated Rice Fields of Bangladesh by GIS and Factor Analysis

Article Assessment of Influence and Inter-Relationships of Soil Prop...

Thanks Abu for your fast reply. Unfortunatelly I could not download the first paper, according to the second paper you have used hydrometer method and USDA classification. Tnanks for answer!

I am outside of my university. Now I am in Australia. Therefore, I am not able to download such paper for you, Sorry. Do you have access to FAO network for your university. Please ask your university librarian regarding FAO network.

Hi in Ireland we use either the British or American systems. So the only difference will be the cut off at 0.053 or 0.063 mm for the clay/ silt fractions. In our institute we use the pipettes method but also more recently the laser diffraction method. Also interesting are hand methods in visual soil assessment and engineering see vast system.

Hi, in Costa Rica, in the University of Costa Rica (I think it is considered the laboratory of reference in the country and for some other places in Central America, they receive many samples from Guatemala, for example) we/they used a modified Boyoucus methods, i.e. hydrometer. They are changing now what they call the Canadian system, which I think is based also in hydrometer. For the classes, we use the USDA classes but simplified because we normally only differntiate sand, silt and clay...If you need more details I can contact you with the laboratory especialists...

In India, generally the collected soil samples is air-dried, grinded and sieved using 2 mm sieve. Further, Soil texture is analyzed using Hydrometer and percentage of soil separates is calculated. The textural class is determined using the Triangular diagram by U.S.D.A. (Black, 1965)

Hi, we use pipette method in our laboratory (Italy), according to the USDA system.

generally we use hydrometer method

In our lab at Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria we use the hydrometer method according to Gee and Bauder (1986)

In Japan, pipette method is most widely used as standrd but criteria of particle size is different; clay:

Yes ,,hydrometer method by Gee and Bauder (1986) is comonly used

In Russia we use sieves down to 0.25 mm and then the pipette method. Widely used also Hand analysis, especially during the field work.

Please don't mix up the particles classification by size and soil texture classification which is a Particle Size Distribution classification.

We classify soil texture either by USDA textural triangle or by dual classification by Kachinsky. The latest based on the ratio of particles larger or smaller than 0.01 mm.

By the way a nice classifications overview is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_texture

Nosotros seguimos el método de la pipeta para la mayoría de nuestros suelos. Sólo tenemos problemas en la dispersión de los Andisoles

In our lab, we following international pipette method and classification is based on USDA triangle

Look at STN 72 1001 - this is also a real standard (Slovak Technical Standard), but the fraction intervals are different: 0.002-0.063-2.0! At our department, hydrometer combined with wet sieving is used, however, for fine-grained soils I would prefer SediGraph (available e. g. at IAG BOKU Wien).

In Jordan, Hydrometer method by Gee and Bauder (1986) is commonly used.

Less than 0,002 mm - clay

0,002-0,05 mm - silt

0,05 - 2 mm - sand

Hello there!!!

Here in Costa Rica, specifically in University of Costa Rica we use Gee and Bauder (1986) and Pipette method according USDA (2004) for research and  thesis dissertations, or to separate clay fraction.

The size fractions commonly used for us:

Sand 0,05 - 2 mm (200 - 50 micrometers)

Silt 0,002-0,05 mm (2- 50 micrometers)

and Clay fraction:

0.002 mm or less (2 micrometers or less)

For other fractions (sand fractions, we uses sieves)

Greetings from Costa Rica

Hi, interesting thread. As part of a research team, I was involved in determining the difference in particle size fractions determined via a number of methods. We then assessed the consequences of these differences in two model applications. I have attached our recent paper on this, perhaps it might be of interest. Happy to answer any questions on it!

Dear Elena:

In Ecuador, South America, We use the hydrometer method in order to determinate the amount of sand, silt and clay. 

When we need to determine the fractions of sand, we do it using sieves.

Best regards

Hi Elana

I like this discussion too,

In our project, Soil and hydrology of Mt. Kilimanjaro we used wet sieving method to separate major classes of sand, but we employed laser-diffraction method (LDM) to determine particle-size distributions of fine sand, silt and clay. We got nice results and publications will be out soon.

All the best

Jerome, Bayreuth University

In the dry areas there is a manual for the west Asia and North Africa region (ICARDA) international Center for Agricultural Research in the dry Areas, you can find it in pdf. For particle size distribution, labratory procedures normally estimate percentage of sand(0.05-2.0 mm), silt (0.002-0.05 mm) and clay (

In our lab (soil science, environmental science and archaeology) we use nested sieves for the >2mm fraction, and laser granulometer for the sub 2mm fraction. We also use Bouyocos method, but only as a demonstration for students as it is much slower. We attempt to link the 2 size ranges by using the methods of Canti, although we are usually just interested in the sub 2mm fraction for soil characterization. Our particle sizes are expressed using the European size divisions, rather than the US, but usually more convenient to use phi for graphical plots/core descriptions