1 5th essc congress–palermo 07 map of soil susceptibility to compaction in europe beata houšková...

15th ESSC congress–Palermo 07

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), 21020 Italy

The Institute forEnvironment and Sustainability


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


Three necessary steps of Strategies

1. COMMUNICATION COM(2006) 231 on the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection

2. DIRECTIVE COM(2006) 232 establishing a framework for the protection of soil and amending Directive 2004/35/EC

3. IMPACT ASSESSMENT SEC(2006) 620 of the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection

Adopted by the European Commission on 22nd of September 2006


Step 3: The Impact Assessment

• Two sections:

(SEC (2006) 1165 and SEC(2006) 620)

The economic, social and environmental impacts of the proposed measures.


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”.


Common criteria for Soil Compaction risk identification

Data Quality /Resolution Criteria Data source/type of information Tier 1 Tier 2

Soil typological unit (STU level) -soil type

Semantic data of the soil database Soil map 1:1,000,000/1:250,000

Soil map 1:250,000 or more detailed

STU level - topsoil and subsoil texture

Semantic data of the soil database: sand, silt, clay content

Texture class Particle size

STU data Semantic data of the soil database: bulk density, water retention, soil organic carbon, structure, texture

Pedo-transfer-rules (PTR) or functions

Measurements

Climate MARS climate grid: precipitations, potential evapotranspiration

Climate records: average annual/ monthly or 10-day

Climate records: average 20-30 yr. period/daily

Land use

Eurostat: statistical data about agriculture and forestry: crop types and forest areas, types of farming systems (annual crops, vineyards, animal breeding, etc.), type of forests

NUTS 3 NUTS 4

Farming and forest systems

Typology of farming systems or forestry systems in relation to land use data

Expert knowledge Survey data

Land cover CORINE: localisation of agricultural areas, forest areas, etc.

250 m 100 m

Slope DEM SRTM 250 m SRTM 90 m


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.


Driving Forces

Pressures

State

Impacts

ResponsesAgricultureintensification

Land use practicescontinuous cultivation

deforestation

European soil protection policy

On-site: soil degradationcompaction

loss of structure

Good agricultural practice- low ground pressures- timing of cultivations- alleviation measures- conservation tillage

On-site- reduction in water

storage capacity- increased soil

erosion

Off-site- pollution of surface waters

- effects on regional drainage- flooding

Soil Protection Strategy

Framework (DPSIR) for Soil Compaction


SOIL COMPACTION

Natural (Primary)Man-induced (Secondary)

Combined


Dep

th (

cm)

0

25

50

75

100

125

0

25

50

75

100125

compacted layer

percolation /infiltration

runoff[erosion.

seepage

to groundwater

pollution]

to surface water

buffering

non-compacted soil compacted soil

filtering

Bulk density higher than 1.9 g.cm-3 stops the ability of plant roots to grow


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 typeType of horizons and their arrangement in soil profile (argillic horizon); type of soil formation processes: illimerisation,

gleying or podsolization


Soil units (WRB –1994) Susceptibility to natural compaction

Histosols low

Anthrosols low

Rendzic Leptosols low

other Leptosols low

Andosols low

Arenosols low

Chernozems low

Phaeozems low

Mollic Fluvisols and Mollic Gleysoils medium

The other Fluvisols medium

Eutric Cambisols medium

Dystric Cambisols and Umbrisols medium

Haplic Luvisols medium

The other Gleysols high

Podzols high

Planosols high

Albic Luvisols and Glossisols high

Stagnosols high


Influence of the origin of compaction on the soil profile properties - Natural soil compaction

Bulk density (d g.cm-3) of medium heavy naturally compacted soil

y = 0.063x + 1.395

R2 = 0.9992

1.35

1.40

1.45

1.50

1.55

1.60

1.65

1.70

1.75

1 2 3

depth

g.(

cm

-3)

limit value


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.


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, 1.5-1.2 stable, 1.2-0.8 labile, >0.8 unstable, additional plastic deformation, (author: Prof. Rainer Horn).


Influence of the origin of compaction on the soil profile properties – Human induced Soil compaction

Bulk Density (d g.cm-3) of secondary compacted soil; Kľačany

y = -0.11x + 1.834

R2 = 0.9978

1.35

1.40

1.45

1.50

1.55

1.60

1.65

1.70

1.75

1 2 3

depth

d (

g.c

m-3

)

limit value


Author: R. Jones


Subsoil Susceptibility to Compaction

Class SusceptibilityL LowM ModerateH High

VH Very High

Packing density g cm-3

Texture Low Medium High Code Class < 1.40 1.40 – 1.75 > 1.75

1 Coarse VH H M1

2 Medium H M M

3 Medium fine M(H) M L3

4 Fine M2 L4 L3

5 Very fine M2 L4 L3

9 Organic VH H 1 except for naturally compacted or cemented coarse (sandy) materials that have very low (L) susceptibility. 2 these packing densities are usually found only in recent alluvial soils with bulk densities of 0.8 to 1.0 t m-3 or in topsoils with >5% organic carbon. 3 these soils are already compact. 4 Fluvisols in these categories have moderate susceptibility

%clay)*(0.009ρPD d


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


Source of data

• European Soil Database (STU, SMU units)1:1 M and/or 1 km grid

• MARS50 km grid soil suitability for different crops and evaluation of climate

• CAPRI1 km gridthe probability of crop cultivation according to the type of crop

• DTMDigital 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)

• EUROSTATStatistical and economical data about number and types of machines, type of agriculture (rotation) and intensity of stock-raising.


European Soil Database

The database consists from four components:

1. The Soil Geographical Database of Europe at scale 1:1,000,000 (SGDBE), which is a digitized European soil map and related attributes;

2. The PedoTransfer Rules Database (PTRDB), version 2.0, which holds a number of pedotransfer rules which can be applied to the SGDBE;

3. The Soil Profile Analytical Database of Europa (SPADBE);

4. The Database of Hydraulic Properties of European Soils (HYPRES).


Structure of ESDB

• CoverageThe 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.


European Soil Database: WRB classification

http://eusoils.jrc.it


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.


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


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


Presentation of Results

Maps with polygons showing 4 classes of soil compaction

0 - no risk of compaction1 - low risk of compaction2 - medium risk of compaction3 - high risk of compaction


EU Policy Issues Addressed by IES ...

GMESKyoto ProtocolEmission TradingEU Global Development Policies

Fuel DirectivesEmissions from Road TransportClean Air for Europe (CAFE)

Water Framework DirectiveMarine Thematic StrategyFlood Risk Management

European Flood Alert System

Development Technical Body

Soil Thematic Strategy

Forest Focus Scientific Coordination Body

Thematic Urban StrategyINSPIRE

Technical Coordinator

Renewable Energies & Electricity EfficiencyENERGY STAR Technical Coordinator

Management of Natural ResourcesEnvironmental Technology Action Plan (ETAP)

Radiation Environmental Monitoring European Information System Operator

Environment and Health


COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No. 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003


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.


Thank you for your interest !

1 5th essc congress–palermo 07 map of soil susceptibility to compaction in europe beata houšková...

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