ORBi: Legrain Xavier - Our soil map as cultural heritage: what of the Belgium soil survey project should be preserved and what is being lost?

Reference : Our soil map as cultural heritage: what of the Belgium soil survey project should be pre...


	Document type :	Scientific congresses and symposiums : Poster
	Discipline(s) :	Life sciences : Environmental sciences & ecology Life sciences : Agriculture & agronomy
	To cite this reference:	http://hdl.handle.net/2268/127067

Title :	Our soil map as cultural heritage: what of the Belgium soil survey project should be preserved and what is being lost?
Language :	English
Author, co-author :	Legrain, Xavier [Université de Liège - ULg > Sciences et technologie de l'environnement > Science du sol >]
	Dondeyne, Stefaan []
	Deckers, Jozef []
	Colinet, Gilles [Université de Liège - ULg > Sciences et technologie de l'environnement > Science du sol >]
	Bock, Laurent [Université de Liège - ULg > Sciences et technologie de l'environnement > Science du sol >]
Other contributor :	Beckers, Véronique []
	Bouhon, Antoine []
	Van Ranst, Eric []
	Langohr, Roger []
	Chapelle, Jean []
	Van Orshoven, Jos []
Publication date :	6-Jul-2012
Page number :	A0
On invitation :	No
Audience :	International
Event name :	4th International Congress of the European Confederation of Soil Science Societies (ECSSS) - Eurosoil 2012 - Soil Science for the benefit of mankind and environment
Event date :	2-6 July 2012
Event organizer :	Prof. Nicola Senesi (Eurosoil 2012 and ECSSS President)
Event place (city) :	Bari
Event country :	Italy
Keywords :	[en] soil map ; Belgium ; archive
	[fr] carte des sols ; Belgique ; archive
Abstract :	[en] Between 1947 and 1991, soils of Belgium were mapped to establish a systematic inventory of the country soil resources. Field observations were done by soil auger to a standard depth of 1.25 m and at a mean density of 2 points per hectare. Cadastral plans at scale 1:5,000 where used for georeferencing field observations and for delimiting map units, subsequently generalized on the 1:10,000 topographic base map. The final map was published on sheets at scale 1:20,000 along with descriptive texts. Besides, data on about 15,000 described and analyzed soil profiles were reported in technical annexes. With the advent of computers, data on soil profiles have been transfered into relational databases and soil sheets have been digitized. Coding of the data rendered them more accessible, but inevitably implied a standardization and hence a reduction of some information. Still most of the soil surveyors have already passed away, besides their intangible expert knowledge, a wealth of information is also being lost when their field notes, unpublished reports, minutes of meetings and draft maps are being disregarded. The map legend was developed during the first decade of the survey, reflecting state of knowledge on soil formation and their relative importance for agricultural land-use in the 1950s. To guarantee that future generations will be able to appreciate the value and concepts underpinning the soil information, it is important that at least a minimum set of such historical documents would be preserved, analyzed and documented.
Name of the research project :	Projet de Cartographie Numérique des Sols de Wallonie (PCNSW)
Target :	Researchers ; Professionals ; Students
Permalink :	http://hdl.handle.net/2268/127067
Other URL :	http://www.eurosoil2012.eu/

File(s) associated to this reference

Fulltext file(s):

	File	Commentary	Version	Size	Access
Open access	Eurosoil12_Abstracts_Heritage_poster.pdf	Abstract	Publisher postprint	60.49 kB	View/Open
Open access	PTR_LEGRAIN&al_2012.07_Eurosoil_Bari_BSM_Heritage_EN.pdf	Poster	Publisher postprint	11.82 MB	View/Open

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