1. Map of Soil Susceptibility to Compaction in Europe
The Institute for
Environment and Sustainability
Map of Soil Susceptibility to Compaction in Europe
Beata Houšková - Luca Montanarella
Land Management and Natural Hazards Unit
Institute for Environment & Sustainability
JRC TP 280 Ispra (VA), Italy
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2. Why EU Level of intervention?
Soil degradation affects other environmental areas
Distortion of the functioning of the internal market
Transboundary impact
Food safety
International dimension
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3. Three necessary steps of Strategies
COMMUNICATION COM(2006) 231 on the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection
DIRECTIVE COM(2006) 232 establishing a framework for the protection of soil and amending Directive 2004/35/EC
IMPACT ASSESSMENT SEC(2006) 620 of the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection
Adopted by the European Commission on 22nd of September 2006
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4. Step 3: The Impact Assessment
Two sections:
(SEC (2006) 1165 and SEC(2006) 620)
The economic, social and environmental impacts of the proposed measures.
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5. Common criteria of risk identification for five major soil threats in Europe
Identification of factors/hazards related to the threat („external” factors);
Characterization of the receptor relevant to the threat („internal” soil factors);
- Performance specification, model selection (with data requirements).
ESBN 2006: the report “Common Criteria for Risk
Area Identification according to Soil Threats”.
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6. Common criteria for Soil Compaction risk identification
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7. Soil compaction as part of STS
Soil compaction is a soil degradation process, which can have natural or human origin and very often it is the integration of both.
Soil compaction occurs when an applied soil stress exceeds the strength of the soil. Compaction is a process of densification and distortion in which total and air-filled porosity and permeability are reduced, strength is increased, soil structure partly destroyed and many changes are induced in the soil fabric and in various behaviour characteristics.
Compaction leads to the change in soil aggregates or particles arrangement in the whole soil profile or in one or several layers. Soil compaction is a degradation process with negative impact on the environment as a whole.
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8. European soil protection policy
Framework (DPSIR) for Soil Compaction
Good agricultural practice
- low ground pressures
- timing of cultivations
- alleviation measures
- conservation tillage
European soil protection policy
Driving
Forces
Pressures
State
Impacts
Responses
Agriculture
intensification
On-site
- reduction in water
storage capacity
- increased soil
erosion
Land use practices
continuous cultivation
deforestation
Off-site
- pollution of surface waters
- effects on regional drainage
- flooding
On-site: soil degradation
compaction
loss of structure
Soil Protection Strategy
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9. 5th ESSC congress–Palermo 07

10. non-compacted soil compacted soil 25 50 75 100 125 runoff
[erosion.
percolation /
infiltration
pollution]
to surface water 25 25
seepage
filtering
Depth (cm) 50 50
buffering
compacted layer 75 75
100
100
125
125
to groundwater
Bulk density higher than 1.9 g.cm-3 stops the ability of plant roots to grow
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11. Natural Soil Compaction
Soil texture Generally, soils with high amount of clay (>35% or more) are more susceptible to compaction in comparison to sandy soils with lower amount of clay (<35%). Especially, clayey soils with low amount of silt fraction are susceptible to the compaction processes.
Soil type Type of horizons and their arrangement in soil profile (argillic horizon); type of soil formation processes: illimerisation, gleying or podsolization
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12. Susceptibility to natural compaction
Soil units (WRB –1994)
Susceptibility to natural compaction
Histosols
low
Anthrosols
Rendzic Leptosols
other Leptosols
Andosols
Arenosols
Chernozems
Phaeozems
Mollic Fluvisols and Mollic Gleysoils
 medium
The other Fluvisols
medium
Eutric Cambisols
Dystric Cambisols and Umbrisols
Haplic Luvisols
medium 
The other Gleysols
high
Podzols
Planosols
Albic Luvisols and Glossisols
Stagnosols
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13. Influence of the origin of compaction on the soil profile properties - Natural soil compaction
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14. Soil compaction induced by human activities – secondary compaction
Induced by intensive or incorrect land use (agriculture, forest management);
Low amount of deep rooting structure forming plants in crop rotation, e. g. fodder crops;
High amount of root crops (plants risky for soil properties stability: root system, cultivation practises with high amount of crossing on the field);
Low amount of organic residues.
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15. Precompression stress at a given pore water pressure pF 1
Precompression stress at a given pore water pressure pF 1.8 for topsoils of Europe in relation to a given low topsoil load (tyre inflation pressure: 60 kPa), high topsoil stress: 200 kPa).
Classification of the effective soil strength by the relationship of precompression stress to soil pressure: >1.5 very stable, elastic deformation, stable, labile, >0.8 unstable, additional plastic deformation, (author: Prof. Rainer Horn).
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16. Influence of the origin of compaction on the soil profile properties – Human induced Soil compaction
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17. Author: R. Jones
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18. Subsoil Susceptibility to Compaction
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19. Main steps in second version map construction
Delineation of areas susceptible to natural compation
Delineation of areas susceptible to human – induced compaction
Delineation of areas susceptible to combined compation
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20. Source of data
European Soil Database (STU, SMU units) 1:1 M and/or 1 km grid
MARS 50 km grid soil suitability for different crops and evaluation of climate
CAPRI 1 km grid the probability of crop cultivation according to the type of crop
DTM Digital Terrain Model of spatial resolution 30 m (DTED Level 2 or SRTM 30); DTM 90m spatial resolution can give satisfactory results only for terrain relief of high variability. (Maximal slope (8%, 10%) admissible to heavy machines)
EUROSTAT Statistical and economical data about number and types of machines, type of agriculture (rotation) and intensity of stock-raising.
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21. European Soil Database
The database consists from four components:
The Soil Geographical Database of Europe at scale 1:1,000,000 (SGDBE), which is a digitized European soil map and related attributes;
The PedoTransfer Rules Database (PTRDB), version 2.0, which holds a number of pedotransfer rules which can be applied to the SGDBE;
The Soil Profile Analytical Database of Europa (SPADBE);
The Database of Hydraulic Properties of European Soils (HYPRES).
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22. Structure of ESDB
Coverage The digital form of the soil map in ArcInfo database consisting from geometric and semantic datasets;
Polygons - with areas greaten than 25 km2; polygon can belong just to 1 SMU
Soil Mapping Units (SMU) – geometric part of ESDB. They are represented on the map at least by one polygon but can be composed of several polygons and comprise at least 1 STU – recommendation: max 5 STUs – soil associations
Soil typological units (STU) – semantic part of ESDB. They define the soil type having the set of homogeneous properties for defined area. The sum of % of STUs in 1 SMU = 100%; Each STU must correspond at least to 5% of the total area of SMU, otherwise it is ignored.
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23. European Soil Database: WRB classification
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24. Natural compaction delineation
Visualization of soil cover for whole area (practical visualization by database 1:250,000 sheets or by administrative units - NUTS).
Elimination of areas unaffected by compaction. Realization: soil covers - (forest + built up areas + water bodies + devasted areas + rocks) – terrain with slope >10%. Result: agriculture areas potentially affected by compaction or susceptible to compaction.
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25. Result of this step: 3 maps
STU according to their susceptibility to compaction
Soil Texture Classes according to their susceptibility to compaction
Intersection of susceptibility for compaction: soil type & texture
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26. Human-induced compaction delineation
Delineation of areas with high percentage of farm larger then 50 ha
delineation of areas with high probability of use of heavy machines (large parcels, large farms, heavy soils).
Delineation of pastures with intensive grazing
Delineation of areas with high percentage of root crops
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27. Presentation of Results
Maps with polygons showing 4 classes of soil compaction 0 - no risk of compaction
1 - low risk of compaction
2 - medium risk of compaction
3 - high risk of compaction
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28. EU Policy Issues Addressed by IES ...
GMES
Kyoto Protocol
Emission Trading
EU Global Development Policies
Fuel Directives
Emissions from Road Transport
Clean Air for Europe (CAFE)
Water Framework Directive
Marine Thematic Strategy
Flood Risk Management
European Flood Alert System Development Technical Body
Soil Thematic Strategy
Forest Focus
Scientific Coordination Body
Thematic Urban Strategy
INSPIRE
Technical Coordinator
Renewable Energies & Electricity Efficiency
ENERGY STAR Technical Coordinator
Management of Natural Resources
Environmental Technology Action Plan (ETAP)
Radiation Environmental Monitoring
European Information System Operator
Environment and Health
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29. COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No. 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003
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30. 5th ESSC congress–Palermo 07

31. Preventing further soil degradation and preserving its functions:
Overall objective
Preventing further soil degradation and preserving its functions:
when soil is used and its functions are exploited, action has to be taken on soil use and management patterns, and
when soil acts as a sink/receptor of the effects of human activities or environmental phenomena, action has to be taken at source.
Restoring degraded soils to a level of functionality consistent at least with current and intended use, thus also considering the cost implications of the restoration of soil.
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32. Thank you for your interest !
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33. 5th ESSC congress–Palermo 07