European Soil Database

It is the resulting product of a collaborative project involving all the European Union and neighboring countries. It is a simplified representation of the diversity and spatial variability of the soil coverage.

The methodology used to differentiate and name the main soil types is based on the terminology of the F.A.O. legend for the Soil Map of the World at Scale 1:5,000,000. This terminology has been refined and adapted to take account of the specificities of the landscapes in Eurasia. It is itself founded on the distinction of the main pedogenetic processes leading to soil differentiation: brunification, lessivage, podzolisation, hydromorphy, etc.