Category: Europe

SOIL ASSOCIATIONS AND LEADING TYPES
The variety of soils in Central Europe is reduced in the map in favor of an overview. Due to the small scale, no “pure” soil types are shown on the map. Rather, it is a matter of soil associations, among which there are distinctive “leading types”. For example, brown earth and parabrown earth are such guide soils in Central Europe. In the foothills of the Alps, the parabrown soils shown are associated with brown soils, floodplain soils and bog soils as accompanying soils.

In the north German lowlands, podzols, floodplain and marshy soils, bog soils and black earth-like soils can occur in the parabrown soils. Possible causes for the locally differentiated formation of these soils are the relief, the soil substrate and the groundwater and soil water balance.

Europe – agriculture
In the agricultural use of Europe, five main spatial types can be distinguished, for which certain key plants with their respective ecological demands are characteristic.

ZONE OF THE BOREAL CONIFEROUS FOREST
The zone of the boreal coniferous forest in Northern Europe is used almost exclusively for forestry. At numerous locations, forest use is the basis of entire branches of production such as the wood, furniture, paper or cellulose industries. The northern cultivation limit of the grain roughly follows the Arctic Circle, but shows a climatically-related bulge to the north on the Norwegian coast, which is due to the influence of the Gulf Stream. In the Scandinavia and the Urals, however, it has a bulge to the south due to the altitude.

Agricultural use in this zone is only island-like north of the 60th parallel and is of local importance. It focuses on the coastal fringes and the immediate vicinity of rivers. An important reason for this is the floors. Good floodplain soils can be found along the Dwina, while inland Finland is dominated by bog soils with unfavorable properties. The example of Northern Europe shows that the natural cultivation limit can deviate considerably from the profitability limit. For more information about the continent of Europe, please check zipcodesexplorer.com.