Database Floor Profiles

As part of the soil-exploratory mapping, the Geological Service NRW will use maps in scales 1: 5.000, 1: 10.000, 1: 25.000, 1: 50.000, 1: 100,000 and 1: 200,000 worked out. This requires extensive terrain work. The soil is excavated at a depth of 2 m where there is still a lack of sufficient information about the soil structure and its condition. A floor profile — as the expert calls it — is exposed. The detailed description of the soil structure including the documentation of sampling of the often quite different soil horizons are stored in the soil profile database. Currently, this database contains 22,734 point information on the soil condition of 3,900 sites in North Rhine-Westphalia. About 300 profile descriptions are added per year. The basis of the descriptions is the soil map instructions (4th edition), adapted to the needs of soil mapping in North Rhine-Westphalia. Master data are given for each excavation, such as the exact location, the current land use, the tree species in the forest or the terrain forms of the surrounding area. All essential details of a complete soil profile description with soil species, depth and other characteristics of each individual soil horizon, occurrence of groundwater or dams, characteristics of soil biological activity, initial rocks of soil formation and other attributes are stored. In this way, the summary characterisation remains comprehensible by assigning soil types and subtypes. In addition, soils can be selected and evaluated according to individual characteristics or their test results for a wide variety of questions. In detail, it is possible to record the following profile data: Title data: Project code/procedure name, editor/institution, date of recording, TK(DGK) number, profile name, archive number, serial number of the recording point, area number, reference area number, DGK name recording situation: Coordinates, height above NN, inclination, exposure, bulge, surface shape, microrelief, digestion type, utilisation, pre-use, vegetation, growth class, soil changes, other information on the reception situation, references to further data documentation/sampling/guide profile/surface size Profile marking: Suitability for use, humus form, subordinate humus forms, biological state stage, degree of erosion, physiological thoroughness (rootability), base content, browning or podsolation depth, podsolity/wet bleaching, profile unit (soil subtype, top layer soil type group, top layer thickness, base content), floor unit, subordinate profile units, legend unit, apparent water level, free water level, groundwater level, former groundwater level, depth of water reservoir, water reservoir area, total profile dam, point signatures, non-charted surface, observations Horizon/Layer data: Horizontal lower boundary, layer lower boundary, horizontal symbol, horizontal limitation, soil type, humus content, carbonate content, coal content, geogenesis, petrography, stratigraphy, color, concrete/enrichment, wetting strength of the horizon, rooting intensity, soil structure, storage type, degree of solidification, effective storage density/substance volume, pores, tubes, cracks, other information on the soil horizon, comments on the soil horizon Humusforms- Detail description: mean thickness of horizons L, Of and Oh, minimum thickness of horizons L, Of and Oh, maximum thickness of horizons L, Of and Oh, limitation of horizons L, Of and Oh, characteristics of the horizons L and Of, storage type of horizons L, Of and Oh, organic fine substance in the horizons L and Of, mineral substance in the horizons L, Of and Oh, fungal hyphs in the horizons L, Of and Oh, rooting of horizons L, Of and oh documentation and analysis order: Date of sampling, sampler/institution, profile description or incremental samples, sample number, A, G, T sub-samples, sampling depth, horizontal designation (sample), coarse soil content, storage density/substance volume (estimated), sample type, sampling method, numerical additives, additional identifier, test type, analysis program for soil samples/standard water analysis, soil sample bank, comments on the sample, further information on the sample vegetation intake: Vegetation survey officer, forest information on the stock, vegetation unit, observations on vegetation intake, degree of coverage, plant species, species power, socionity, vitality