Soil map of Lower Saxony 1: 50 000 — Effective rooting depth

The soil serves the plants as a storage for water and nutrients. To describe the size of the memory, the effective root space or the effective root depth (We) is determined. The We is the potential depletion depth of the plant available soil water, which can be maximised from the soil by plant roots in dry years. The map of the “Effective Root Depth of the Ground” shows the size of the root space in dm, classified in 6 levels. The We depends on the texture, storage density, humus content, stratification and use of the soil as well as groundwater level.