Useful links

Links to where you can find more information on soils in Scotland

Our soils

How do our soils form?

• Soil beneath your feet - Where does it come from?
• Soil and geology - Scotland's Environment Web rocks and landforms - our soils are formed from a wide range of parent materials
• Soil and climate - rainfall and temperature control how soils form and change.

National reporting

• The State of Scotland's Soil - The national assessment of the extent, state and threats to soils in Scotland (2011)
• The Countryside Survey - Measuring change in our countryside - UK-level surveys including Scotland reports and Soil reports from 2007
• European Soil Database maps - Putting Scotland in a wider perspective

Regional / topical reporting

• British Geological Survey (BGS)
  • Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment - G-BASE
  • G_BASE Urban - Glasgow area
• Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) - Information services including land cover, hydrology of soil types
• Regulatory and compliance monitoring - Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) - Environmental data including atmospheric deposition, waste
• NatureScot - National Peatland Plan

Soil protection – policy framework

• The Scottish Soil Framework (2009)
• The Scottish Soil Framework (2013) - Progress report

State of Scotland's soil

Reviews and reports that tell us about the state of our soils

• The State of Scotland's soil - The national assessment of the extent, state and threats to soils in Scotland (2011)
• Geochemical atlas for Scottish topsoil (2011)
• Socio-economic data on Scottish soils - collection and development(2010)
• Scottish Soil Framework Supporting Material (2008)
• Scotland’s soil resource current state and threats (2006)
• World reference base for soil resources (2006)
• State of the Environment: Soil Quality Report (2001)

Soil functions and ecosystem services

• Ecosystem Services definition
  • Summary of research outputs supported or facilitated by the Environmental Change Programme of the Scottish Government’s Portfolio of Strategic Research 2011-2016
  • Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
• Nature conservation and ecosystem service delivery
• Review of ecosystem service mapping within Scottish Government RESAS funded research
• Soil Environment Health and Society - Summary of research outputs supported or facilitated by the Environmental Change Programme of the Scottish Government’s Portfolio of Strategic Research 2011-2016
• IPCC - IPCC report on Harvested Wood Products, Wetlands and Soil N₂O

Trends and historical change

• NatureScot - Scotland's trends
• Historic Environment Scotland - Ancient farming - historic perspective (2011)

Soil monitoring

Soil survey and monitoring resources

• Mapping Scotland’s soil resources (2015) - a short history of soil surveying in Scotland
• The new unified classification of Scotland Soil (2013)
• Profile description and soil sampling protocols for the National Soil Inventory of Scotland (1978 - 1988)
• Profile description and soil sampling protocols for the National Soil Inventory of Scotland (2007 - 2009)
• Harmonisation of 1:250 000 scale soil maps and soil profile data in the Celtic fringe of Europe: Scotland, Northern Ireland and Eire (2008)
• Origins of the Soil Survey of Scotland 50 cm threshold to define a Peat soil

Monitoring activities

• CAMERAS soil monitoring action plan
• Condition of designated sites (SNH)
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) - soil compliance monitoring

Examples of research outputs relating to monitoring

• Link to RESAS outputs 2011-2016

Soil indicators

• Apply soil indicators on biomonitoring sites (2015)
• Testing soil quality indicators - Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) commissioned report (2013)
• To establish soil indicators to assess the impact of atmospheric deposition on environmentally sensitive areas - Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) commissioned report (2010)

Soil and water quality

• Assessing the potential risks to water quality from phosphate leaching - Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) commissioned report (2012)
• Soil phosphorus levels in diffuse pollution priority catchments - Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) commissioned report (2011)

Soil and waste

• Assessment of soil quality and human health from organic contaminants in materials commonly spread on land (Scotland) and summary (2014)

Soil and peat/carbon

• Determination of organic carbon stocks in blanket peat in different condition - assessment of peat condition (2015)
• Scotland's peatland - definitions and information resources - Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) commissioned report (2014)
• Estimating soil organic carbon in Europe based on data collected through an European network - research paper (2013)

Soil and erosion

• Climate change, land management and erosion in the organic and organo–mineral soils in Scotland and Northern Ireland - Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) commissioned report no. 325 (2009)

Soil and people

• How can we employ citizen science to determine the extent of soil erosion in Scotland? (2014)
• Socio-economic data on Scottish soils - collection and development - Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) commissioned report (2010)

Soil and biodiversity

• Impact of atmospheric Nitrogen deposition on upland and Alpine ecosystems
• Long-Term Land Use Change on the Machair and its Impact on Biodiversity

Organisations that collect and publish data and information on soil in Scotland include:

• The James Hutton Institute
• British Geological Survey
• Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
• Forest Research
• Scottish Rural College (SRUC)
• NERC funded research
  • Soil Security programme (on-going)
  • Soil biodiversity programme (historical)

Find out more on Scottish Government funded research.

This page was last updated on 04 Apr 2017