Bottom classifications

The Belgian soil classification system consists of a soil type corresponding to one of the 3 classification types: the general, coastal and artificial land classification. The soil type of the general Belgian soil classification is made up of various components such as a substrate, texture class, Drainage class, profile development group, phases and variants. This morphogenetic classification system could not be applied in the coastal region, since the soils in this region do not show any profile development. As a result, a separate Belgian classification system is used for the coastal region. For soil profiles with a strong human disturbance, artificial soils, there is also a separate classification system within Belgium. In addition to the Belgian soil classification systems, the international World Reference Base (WRB) soil classification is also used. The WRB system uses ‘Reference Soil Groups’ (RSGs), ‘Principal Qualifiers’ (PQs) and ‘Supplementatry Qualfiers’ (SPs). In addition to the Belgian soil classification system and the WRB classification, the database also contains other soil classifications referred to as additional soil classifications with, among other things, the soil classifications according to the Earthenware system. The Earthenware classification is a precursor to the Belgian soil classification and was only applied in the early years of Belgian soil mapping.