Soil heritage

The development of a soil profile is usually a process of thousands of years under specific conditions. We think of the influence of the mother material, the substrate, the climate, geomorphology and hydrology, the fauna and flora, and humans. In this way, a soil profile reflects the natural and cultural history of a particular location. Disconnected from any use function, a soil can be considered valuable from a scientific or social point of view. The preservation and protection of the existing valuable soils in Flanders is important for the preservation of our soil-based heritage. In this context, Ghent University, the K.U. Leuven and the Soil Service of Belgium conducted an exploratory study commissioned by the Land and Soil Protection Service. The University of Ghent, the K.U. Leuven and the Soil Service of Belgium combined their knowledge in the creation of a database of the well-known valuable soils in Flanders. This inventory not only consulted written sources, but also included the so-called “grey knowledge” (not published). For the study of written sources, libraries were visited, both public and private collections, and consulted books, articles, thesis, proceedings, monographs and reports. The ‘grey knowledge’ was unlocked through interviews with experts. The data layer shows the location of the known valuable soils in Flanders and contains a link per location to the corresponding information sheet, which was extracted from the database.