INSPIRE harmonized - Soil locations

A soil location is either a profile well or a borehole. A bore is always one point location (x,y,z) and a profile well has a minimum of one and a maximum of two point locations (beginning and end point of the profile well). A profile well is an excavated well in the soil in which profile descriptions, sampling or soil observations are carried out. A profile description is an observation of soil horizons and/or soil layers in an excavated profile pit. A soil horizon is a visually distinguishable part of the soil that is created by conversion of the parent material by pedogenetic processes or by the depositing of organic material. A soil horizon has homogeneous morphological and analytical characteristics for most soil variables. A soil layer, on the other hand, is created by non-pedogenetic processes. On the basis of a profile well you get an idea of the soil structure. A bore is the result of drilling into the subsurface with removal of soil by means of a tool in the form of a hollow tube. On the basis of this drilled-up soil material, soil descriptions, soil observations and sampling are carried out. The soil locations from the 'Aardewerk-Vlaanderen-2010' database are accessed separately in the datasets 'Soil profiles mapping Belgian soil map' and 'Surface samples mapping Belgian soil map'.