Inspire harmonised — soil locations

A soil location is either a profile pit or a bore. A bore is always one point location (x,y,z) and a profile well has at least one and a maximum of two point locations (start and end points of the profile well). A profile well is an excavated well in the soil in which profile descriptions, samplings or soil observations are carried out. A profile description is a observation of soil horizons and/or soil layers in an excavated profile pit. A soil horizon is a visually distinct part of the soil created by conversion of the parent material through pedogenetic processes or by depositing organic matter. A soil horizon has homogeneous morphological and analytical characteristics for most soil variables. A soil layer, on the other hand, is created by non-pedogenetic processes. On the basis of a profile well you get a picture of the soil construction. A drilling is the result of drilling into the substrate with removal of soil by means of a tool in the shape of a hollow tube. Soil descriptions, soil observations and sampling are carried out on the basis of this drilled soil material. The soil sites from the ‘Earthwork-Flanders-2010’ database are accessed separately in the datasets ‘bottom profiles mapping Belgian soil map’ and ‘surface samples mapping Belgian soil map’.