Regional Pedological Reference for the Department of Pyrenees-Atlantiques: map of soils

The data collected relate to soils, the products of alteration, reshuffle and organisation of the upper layers of the earth’s crust under the action of life, atmosphere and energy exchange manifested there (Aubert and Boulaine, 1980). The need for soil information is increasing. Since soil properties are highly spatially variable, it is important to have inventory data on a scale adapted to manage them best. The potential for using soil data is very broad in terms of themes. Data are most frequently used for agronomic, environmental, risk assessments and spatial planning issues. In response to these requests for information, cartographic inventories, initiated in the 1960s, continued at different scales and structured into a single national programme: the Soil Management and Conservation Inventory Program (IGCS). This program is now led by the Sol Scientific Interest Group (GIS Sol), whose main mission is to set up and manage a national soil information system in France. The main strategy is to capitalise on old soil data and acquire new data at various scales. The information thus collected makes it possible to create a cartographic representation of the spatial distribution of soils, in the form of Soil Cartographic Units, combined with a database in a single national format “DoneSol”. The IGCS program has 3 components defined according to the representation scale. One of these components is the Regional Pedological Reference (RRP), which aims to produce information on soil knowledge returned on a scale of 1/250000. RRPs are broken down by department, some are regional. The cartographic representation is made in child-landscapes, which are defined by the combination of the following factors: nature and organisation of soil cover (soil system), nature (lithology) and geological structure, dominant relief form or associated types of terrain (morphology), natural vegetation and/or existing cropping systems. The Infosol Unit (INRA Val-de-Loire) is responsible for the national coordination of the programme and is based on a network of partners. Bordeaux Sciences Agro (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Sciences Agronomiques de Bordeaux-Aquitaine) is in charge of the establishment and management of the Regional Pedological References of the Lot-et-Garonne, Dordogne and Pyrénées-Atlantique departments.