Land use-stratified soil map of Germany at scale 1:1,000,000 (series)

The Land use-stratified soil map of Germany 1:1,000,000 (BUEK1000N), Version 2.31, was subdivided according to the main land cover types (forest, cropland and grassland) using the 1990 CORINE Land Cover data. However, it cannot be expected that the legend of this soil map is valid for the CORINE areas (in this project processed as vector data with the resolution of ca. 0,25 km2) rather than for larger patches (ca. 4 km2). Thus, the land cover data had to be generalized. The original land-cover classes were first aggregated into 14 combined classes, then generalized to at least 4 km2 patches, and finally intersected with the soil map units. The unchanged original soil map units were thus geometrically subdivided by land cover. Soil regions, soil landscapes and European climatic zones were also considered in order to stratify the legend of this new digital database. In another working step, the descriptions of the soil legend units were re-written in order to distinguish and to describe typical soil types and soil profiles under forest, cropland and grassland. For that, data from the BGR soil profile data base and from higher resolution soil maps as well as soil profiles from the national forest soil condition monitoring were evaluated. The results are stored in a relational database which is part of the BGR soil information system “FISBo BGR”. An additional, 54-page booklet with explanations for BUEK1000N can be purchased at the GeoCenter Touristik Medien Service GmbH in D-70565 Stuttgart.