bricks and mortar may in time crystallise and expand and cause mortar and renderings to disintegrate. To minimise this effect specialised brickwork with low sulfate levels should be used. Acid sulfates that are located within the subsoil strata has the same effects on the foundations of a building. Adequate protection can exist using a polythene sheeting to encase the foundations or using a sulfate-resistant Portland cement. To identify the pH level of the ground a soil investigation must take place. Restoration and Management By raising the water table, after damage has been inflicted due to over-intensive drainage, the soils can be restored. The following table gives an example. Drainage and yield of Malaysian oil palm on acid sulfate soils (after Toh Peng Yin and Poon Yew Chin, 1982) Yield in tons of fresh fruit per ha: Drainage depth and intensity were increased in 1962. The water table was raised again in 1966 to counter negative effects. In the "millennium drought" in the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, exposure of acid sulfate soils occurred. Large scale engineering interventions were undertaken to prevent further acidification, including construction of a bund and pumping of water to prevent exposure and acidification of Lake Albert. Management of acidification in the Lower Lakes was also undertaken using aerial limestone dosing. Australian Terminology Sulphate or Sulfate? Although ‘sulphur’, ‘sulphate’ and ‘sulphide’ are standard Australian-English spellings, Australian researchers are encouraged to adopt the US-English spelling of these terms in both domestic and international publications so that, inter alia, spelling is consistent with IUPAC definitions. As such, although ‘acid sulphate soil’ is commonly encountered in Australian literature, ‘acid sulfate soil’ is now the preferred spelling. History The term ‘acid sulfate soils’ (ASS) was coined by the Working Party on Nomenclature and Methods for the first International Symposium on Acid Sulfate Soils (1972, Wageningen) to mean soils that contain, or have the potential to produce, sulfuric acid in quantities that cause significant and long-lasting changes in key soil properties. This term was gradually adopted by the international scientific community for the sake of international consistency and cooperation. Prior to this, different regions used colloquial terms such as: argilla vitriolacea (Latin, ‘clay with sulfuric acid’ – coined by Carl Linnaeus), Kattekleigronden or Katte Klei (Dutch, ‘cat clay’), Gifterde (German, ‘cursed / poisoned earth’), and Maibolt (an Austro-Germanic spirit or creature that, when angered, would curse the soil to spoil crops). The term