Soils of the European Union - European Soil Portal - Europa

1. IntroductionSoil is a nonrenewable natural resource which is one of the key life support systems on the planet, responsible for basicecological and social functions such as the:• Biomass production• Storing, filtering and transforming nutrients, substances and water• Biodiversity pool such as for habitats, species and genes• Physical and cultural environment for humans and human activities• Source of raw materials• Acting as carbon pool• Archive of geological and archaeological heritageThe EU’s Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection (EC 2006) has stated that these soil functions are under serious pressure inmany parts of Europe. The understanding of soil as an important contributor to water systems, the global carbon cycle andto other systems is still evolving and needs to be developed further; so far soil has predominantly been perceived in thecontext of arable land and the fertility for crop production. The perception of soil as an environmental medium providingsubstantial goods and services for all land and aquatic ecosystems has developed over the last decades.Soil forms a continuum that comprises many biological, chemical and physical characteristics. A marked spatial andtemporal variability of soil characteristics makes building soil classification difficult. In addition, there is a commonopinion that different soil classifications result in different pattern of soil representation: different soil maps.The current report overviews soils of the European Union classified in a new standard which is the World Reference Basefor Soil Resources (WRB; FAO 1998). This system originates from the approach of the FAO to correlate soil resourcesglobally. The advantage of using the system of the FAO is that the soil resources of the European Union are integrated intothe world-wide context.This volume provides an in depth summary of the current position regarding the detail and availability of soil information,particularly spatial data at the EU level. This edition of the Soils of the European Union incorporates chapters on all majorsoil types of the Member States of the EU, including those countries that joined the Union in 2007. In order to provide fullglobal reference the authors introduced a grouping of soils of the EU related to basic soil-forming factors that are known as“Sets” of soils (FAO 2001). This soil classification is useful for ecological interpretation of soil resources.Our current efforts are closely linked to previous publications on the soils of Europe, notably, on the 1:4.5 M wall chart thatgave the first view of European soils based on the WRB (EC 2001), on the report of the soil resources in Europe (Jones etal. 2005) and the Soil Atlas of Europe (ESBN-EC 2005). These publications are results of the recent cooperative activitiesof the European Soil Bureau Network and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.The intention of the JRC is that within the newly establishes European Soil Data Center, an enhanced soil information onthe soils of the European Union will become accessible to the public both on-line and in printed format. The publication ofthis report is part of this process, which is hoped to contribute to the protection of soil resources in Europe in accordancewith the Thematic Strategy of Soil Protection.3