Soils of the European Union - European Soil Portal - Europa

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Characterization of soilsThe authors of this report followed a uniform presentation format for the characterization of the soils of the EU, including1, Description of the geographic distribution of soils (“Geographical distribution”)• supported by map sheets showing spatial extension of the Reference Soil Groups• supported by written explanation of spatial location of second level units2, Descriptions of the main pedological features, global extend and related international names of European soils (“Globalreference”). This section is largely based on:• Soil Map of the European Communities 1:1 000 000 (CEC 1985)• Lecture Notes on the Major Soils of the World (FAO 2001)• World reference base for soil resources (FAO 1998)8
3. Soils of the European Union: an overviewA great variety of climatic, topographical and geological conditions, together with the diverse anthropogenic influences hasresulted in a diverse soil cover in Europe (Map 3.1). The fact that twenty-three out of the total of thirty Reference SoilGroups (WRB 1998) of the world have representative in the EU shows the magnitude of this diversity. However, not allsoil types have the same share in the soil coverage of the EU. While the most widespread Reference Soil Group –Cambisols – has a proportion of nearly 27 % of the total area, Umbrisols can be found on very limited areas (329 km 2 ).Table 3.1 shows the summarized extent of Reference Soil Groups in the EU.Table 3.1 Spatial extent of Reference Soil Groups (WRB 1998) in the European UnionReference Soil Group km 2 % of the totalAcrisols 10626 0.26Albeluvisols 76865 1.85Andosols 8705 0.21Anthrosols 3428 0.08Arenosols 149776 3.61Calcisols 9288 0.22Cambisols 1107598 26.71Chernozems 78492 1.89Fluvisols 221669 5.35Gleysols 219781 5.30Gypsisols 4110 0.10Histosols 268741 6.48Kastanozems 3532 0.09Leptosols 435713 10.51Luvisols 610941 14.74Phaeozems 70439 1.70Planosols 18981 0.46Podzols 566874 13.67Regosols 222322 5.36Solonchaks 11728 0.28Solonetzes 9857 0.24Umbrisols 329 0.01Vertisols 36447 0.88Total soil cover: 4146242 100As can be seen from the table, the soils sum up to 4,146,242 km 2 , thus to more than 95 % of the total surface area(4,324,782 km 2 ) of the EU. The remaining 5% is occupied by the non-soil land cover types such as large continuous builtup areas, water bodies and glaciers.Twenty-two Reference Soil Groups are dominant (≥ 50 %) in some or in several mapping units. Anthrosols are exceptions;as this Reference Soil Group never dominates mapping units at the 1:1 million scale in Europe.Following the Cambisols Reference Soil Group the second most widespread is that of Luvisols. Luvisols, like Cambisols,can be found in all parts of the continent in associations with other Reference Soil Groups. Podzols have similar area toLuvisols. However, this Reference Soil Group is mainly concentrated in northern Europe. Leptosols, the forth largestReference Soil Group, on the contrary, have smaller shares in the northern regions. Spatial extent of Histosols, Regosols,Fluviols, Gleysols and Arenosols ranges around 5 % within the EU. However, while Histosols, Gleysols and Arenosols arepredominantly soils of the Northern regions, most of Regolols can be found in the southern parts of Europe. Fluvisols arepredominant in the river basins in all parts of the continent. Albeluvisols have similar areal coverage (~ 2%) withChernozems and Phaeozems, however fundamentally different pedological features. Reference Soil Groups with smallerareal extent (< 1%) include soils with special abilities for performing important soil functions.9
Page 1: Soils of the European UnionGergely
Page 4 and 5: The mission of the Institute for En
Page 7 and 8: Table of ContentsAcknowledgements .
Page 9 and 10: List of MapsMap 3.1 Dominant Refere
Page 11: AcknowledgementsThis report is base
Page 14 and 15: 2. Materials and methods2.1 Soil Ge
Page 16 and 17: 2.3 Nomenclature of soil typesThe S
Page 20 and 21: Map 3.1 DOMINANT REFERENCE SOIL GRO
Page 22 and 23: 4. Spatial distribution of the majo
Page 24 and 25: 4.2 AlbeluvisolsGeographical distri
Page 26 and 27: 4.3 AndosolsGeographical distributi
Page 28 and 29: 4.4 AnthrosolsGeographical distribu
Page 30 and 31: 4.5 ArenosolsGeographical distribut
Page 32 and 33: 4.6 CalcisolsGeographical distribut
Page 34 and 35: 4.7 CambisolsGeographical distribut
Page 36 and 37: 4.8 ChernozemsGeographical distribu
Page 38 and 39: 4.9 FluvisolsGeographical distribut
Page 40 and 41: 4.10 GleysolsGeographical distribut
Page 42 and 43: 4.11 GypsisolsGeographical distribu
Page 44 and 45: 4.12 HistosolsGeographical distribu
Page 46 and 47: 4.13 KastanozemsGeographical distri
Page 48 and 49: 4.14 LeptosolsGeographical distribu
Page 50 and 51: 4.15 LuvisolsGeographical distribut
Page 52 and 53: 4.16 PhaeozemsGeographical distribu
Page 54 and 55: 4.17 PlanosolGeographical distribut
Page 56 and 57: 4.18 PodzolsGeographical distributi
Page 58 and 59: 4.19 RegosolsGeographical distribut
Page 60 and 61: 4.20 SolonchaksGeographical distrib
Page 62 and 63: 4.21 SolonetzesGeographical distrib
Page 64 and 65: 4.22 UmbrisolsGeographical distribu
Page 66 and 67: 4.23 VertisolsGeographical distribu
Page 68 and 69:
5. Concluding remarksA detailed inv
Page 71 and 72:
Appendix 1.Correlation of soil type
Page 73:
Appendix 1. continuedReference Soil
Page 76 and 77:
Table 2. Sets of Reference Soil Gro
Page 78 and 79:
7. Alic intergrade with the Alisol
Page 80 and 81:
clear. The morphology of the bounda
Page 82 and 83:
Even if 100 percent of the ped surf
Page 84 and 85:
Relationships with some other diagn
Page 86 and 87:
Field identification. A plinthic ho
Page 88 and 89:
3. base saturation (by 1 M NH 4 OAc
Page 90 and 91:
2.3 Diagnostic propertiesAbrupt tex
Page 92 and 93:
a. in more than 50 percent of the s
Page 94 and 95:
2.5 Other diagnostic criterionCatio
Page 97 and 98:
European CommissionEUR 23439 EN - J
Page 100:
The mission of the JRC is to provid
show all

Soils of the European Union - European Soil Portal - Europa

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?