Soils of the European Union - European Soil Portal - Europa

4.7 CambisolsGeographical distributionSoil types in the Calcisol Reference Soil Group with over 1.1 million km 2 areal coverage account for the most widespreadsoils in the European Union, covering more then a quarter of its territory. Cambisols can be found nearly all regions of theEU; as dominant soil in 5,236, as associated soil in 4,098 and as inclusions in 3,231 polygons.Eight different subgroups contribute to the Cambisol coverage of the European Union, with Dystric Cambisols having thelargest and Haplic Cambisol the lowest share (Table 4.7., Figure 4.7).Table 4.7 Area of the second level units of CambisolsUnits in the Reference Soil Groupin the EUCodes ofsoil unitsArea in the EUkm 2Calcaric Cambisol CMca 201257Chromic Cambisol CMcr 47566Dystric Cambisol CMdy 386271Eutric Cambisol CMeu 339972Gleyic Cambisol CMgl 45198Haplic Cambisol CMha 476Mollic Cambisol CMmo 53832Vertic Cambisol CMvr 33025Calcaric Cambisols are most common in Spain. In most regions of France, Calcaric Cambisols are quite common too.Other countries with considerable Calcaric Cambisol areas include Italy, Germany, Greece, Poland, Estonia, Portugal andthe Netherlands. Cromic Cambisols have the highest relative share in Hungary, but Italy, France and Portugal have alsoregions with dominantly Cromic Cambisol and this soil unit is present in the UK, Greece and Portugal as well. In the CzechRepublic Dystric Cambisols are the most common soils and they also have a considerable share in the soil cover of almostall EU Member States (exceptions are the Baltic States, Poland, Hungary, Malta and the Netherlands). Eutric Cambisolscan be found as associated soils all over the EU (Except Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta) and are also dominantin the Po plain, the Alsace-Loire region, Bretagne, Bavaria, the High Tatras, in the western Pyrenees and the ScottishCentral Lowlands. Gleyic Cambisols are dominant in parts of central Lithuania, south-eastern England and are alsoabundant in the French Massif Central, in Central Europe, and as inclusion in the Po plain. Areas of Haplic Cambisols arelimited to Cyprus and the Netherlands. Mollic Cambisols are widespread in north-western Iberia, in the Massif Central ofFrance, the Pyrenees, throughout Hungary, and in some parts of Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. Vertic Cambisols areabundant in Germany, Finland, Italy and Greece and has inclusions in Austria, Cyprus and Czech Republic.0.04%4.86% 2.98%4.08%30.69%18.17%4.29%34.87%CMcaCMcrCMdyCMeuCMglCMhaCMmoCMvrFigure 4.7 Share of the second level soil units in the area of CambisolsGlobal referenceA Cambisol is a young soil. Pedogenic processes are evident from color development and/or structure formation below thesurface horizon. Cambisols occur in a wide variety of environments around the world (15M km 2 global coverage) andunder all kinds of vegetation. Cambiols in the international classifications are referred to as brown soil, Braunerde(Germany), Sols bruns (France) or Brunizems (Russia). The USDA Soil Taxonomy classifies Cambisols as Inceptisols.24