Soil Profile Description and Classification (WRB-2006) of the 11 Flemish Level II Intensive Monitoring Plots

In the late 80s Flanders set up a forest monitoring network within the framework of the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) operating under the UN/ECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. ICP Forests monitors the forest condition in Europe in cooperation with the European Commission using two different monitoring intensity levels. The first level (Level I) is based on about 6000 observation plots on a systematic transnational grid of 16 x 16 km throughout Europe. The intensive monitoring level comprises about 800 Level II plots in selected forest ecosystems in Europe. At present the Flemish network comprises 11 international Level II plots. Within the EU demonstration project ‘BioSoil’, Flanders made a soil inventory on these 11 Level II plots. This document reports on the soil survey which includes a detailed profile pit description and soil characterisation complemented by laboratory data. The finality of this characterisation was to come to a soil classification name for the concerning Level II plot according to the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (IUSS Working Group WRB, 2006).