Soils of the European Union - European Soil Portal - Europa

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