EUSO dashboard sources
Soil degradation | Indicator | Reference | Threshold used |
Soil erosion | Water erosion | Panagos, P., Ballabio, C., Poesen, J., Lugato, E., Scarpa, S., Montanarella, L., Borrelli, P. 2020. A Soil Erosion Indicator for Supporting Agricultural, Environmental and Climate Policies in the European Union. Remote Sensing. 12: 1365. DOI: 10.3390/rs12091365 | Erosion rate > 2 tonnes ha-1 year-1 |
Wind erosion | Borelli et al 2017. A New Assessment of Soil Loss Due to Wind Erosion in European Agricultural Soils Using a Quantitative Spatially Distributed Modelling Approach. Land degradation & development, 28(1): 335-344 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.2588 | Erosion rate > 2 tonnes ha-1 year-1 | |
Tillage erosion | Borrelli, P., Panagos, P., Alewell, C., Ballabio, C., de Oliveira Fagundes, H., Haregeweyn, N., Lugato, E., Maerker, M., Poesen, J., Vanmaercke, M. and Robinson, D.A., 2022. Policy implications of multiple concurrent soil erosion processes in European farmland. Nature Sustainability. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-022-00988-4. | Erosion rate > 2 tonnes ha-1 year-1 | |
Harvest erosion | Panagos, P., Borrelli, P. and Poesen, J., 2019. Soil loss due to crop harvesting in the European Union: A first estimation of an underrated geomorphic process. Science of the Total Environment, 664: 487-498. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.009 | Erosion rate > 2 tonnes ha-1 year-1 | |
Post-fire recovery | Vieira, D.C.S., Borrelli, P., Jahanianfard, D., Benali, A., Scarpa, S. and Panagos, P., 2023. Wildfires in Europe: Burned soils require attention. Environmental research, 217, Art. No. 114936. | Recovery rate (RCOVER) | |
Soil pollution | Arsenic excess | Fendrich, A.N., Van Eynde, E., Stasinopoulos, D.M., Rigby, R.A., Mezquita, F.Y., Panagos, P., 2024. Modeling arsenic in European topsoils with a coupled semiparametric (GAMLSS-RF) model for censored data. Environment International 108544. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2024.108544 | P(X > 45 mg kg-1) > 5% |
Copper excess | Ballabio, C., Panagos, P., Lugato, E., Huang, J.-H., Orgiazzi, A., Jones, A., Fernández-Ugalde, O., Borrelli, P., Montanarella, L. 2018. Copper distribution in European topsoils: An assessment based on LUCAS soil survey. Science of the Total Environment, 636: 282-298. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.268 Threshold reference (if different from main source): EU Sewage Sludge Directive, Annex IA https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/ Additional reference: Carlon, C. (Ed.) (2007). Derivation methods of soil screening values in Europe. A review and evaluation of national procedures towards harmonization. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, EUR 22805-EN, 306 pp. https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Panagos, P., Ballabio, C., Lugato, E., Jones, A., Borrelli, P., Scarpa, S., Orgiazzi, A., Montanarella, L. Potential Sources of Anthropogenic Copper Inputs to European Agricultural Soils. Sustainability 2018, 10, 2380. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072380 | Copper concentrations > 100 mg kg-1 * | |
Mercury excess | Ballabio, C., Jiskra, M., Osterwalder, S., Borrelli, P., Montanarella, L., Panagos, P. 2021. A spatial assessment of mercury content in the European Union topsoil. Science of the Total Environment. 769. Article No: 144755. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144755 Threshold reference (if different from main source): Ministry of the Environment, Finland, Government Decree 214/2007 on the Assessment of Soil Contamination and Remediation Needs, 2007 March 1 Panagos, P., Jiskra, M., Borrelli, P., Liakos, L., Ballabio, C. 2021. Mercury in European topsoils: Anthropogenic sources, stocks and fluxes. Environmental Research. 201. Article No: 111556. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111556 Additional reference: Carlon, C. (Ed.) (2007). Derivation methods of soil screening values in Europe. A review and evaluation of national procedures towards harmonization. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, EUR 22805-EN, 306 pp. https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ | Mercury concentration > 500 μg kg-1 * | |
Zinc Excess | Van Eynde, E., Fendrich, A. N., Ballabio, C., & Panagos, P. 2023. Spatial assessment of topsoil zinc concentrations in Europe. Science of The Total Environment, 892, 164512. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164512 Threshold reference (if different from main source): Ministry of the Environment, Finland, Government Decree 214/2007 on the Assessment of Soil Contamination and Remediation Needs, 2007 March 1EU Sewage Sludge Directive, Annex IA https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/ In addition, this represents the top 1% | Zinc concentrations > 100 mg kg-1 * | |
| Cadmium Excess | Ballabio, C., Jones, A. and Panagos, P., 2024. Cadmium in topsoils of the European Union–An analysis based on LUCAS topsoil database. Science of The Total Environment, 912: 168710. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168710 Threshold reference (if different from main source): Ministry of the Environment, Finland, Government Decree 214/2007 on the Assessment of Soil Contamination and Remediation Needs, 2007 March 1 | Cadmium concentrations > 1 mg kg-1 * | |
Soil nutrients | Nitrogen surplus | Knowledge for Integrated Nutrient Management Action Plan (INMAP), EUR 31487 EN, DOI: 10.2760/692320 | Agricultural areas where N surplus > 50 kg ha-1
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Phosphorus deficiency | Ballabio C. et al., 2019. Mapping LUCAS topsoil chemical properties at European scale using Gaussian process regression. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.113912 Threshold reference (if different from main source): Jordan-Meille L. et al, 2012. An overview of fertilizer-P recommendations in Europe: soil testing, calibration and fertilizer recommendations DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-2743.2012.00453.x
Additional reference: Withers P. et al, 2019. A Global Perspective on Integrated Strategies to Manage Soil Phosphorus Status for Eutrophication Control without Limiting Land Productivity; DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2134/jeq2019.03.0131 | P deficiency < 20 mg kg-1 | |
Phosphorus excess | Ballabio C. et al., 2019. Mapping LUCAS topsoil chemical properties at European scale using Gaussian process regression. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.113912 Threshold reference (if different from main source): Jordan-Meille L. et al, 2012. An overview of fertilizer-P recommendations in Europe: soil testing, calibration and fertilizer recommendations DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-2743.2012.00453.x Panagos, P., Köninger, J., Ballabio, C., Liakos, L., Muntwyler, A., Borrelli, P. and Lugato, E., 2022. Improving the phosphorus budget of European agricultural soils. Science of The Total Environment, 853: 158706. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158706 | P excess > 50 mg kg-1 | |
Loss of soil organic carbon | Distance to maximum SOC level | De Rosa, D., Ballabio, C., Lugato, E., Fasiolo, M., Jones, A. and Panagos, P., 2024. Soil organic carbon stocks in European croplands and grasslands: How much have we lost in the past decade?. Global Change Biology, 30(1), p.e16992. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16992 | Distance from ‘maximum’ SOC > 60% |
Loss of soil biodiversity | Potential threat to biological functions | Orgiazzi, A., Panagos, P., Yigini, Y., Dunbar, M.B., Gardi, C., Montanarella, L., Ballabio, C. 2016. A knowledge-based approach to estimating the magnitude and spatial patterns of potential threats to soil biodiversity. Science of the Total Environment, 545-546: 11-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.12.092 | ≥ Moderately-High level of risk |
Soil compaction | Packing density | Beata Houšková and L. Montanarella, 2008. The natural susceptibility of European soils to compaction. in: Toth, G., Montanarella, L. and Rusco, E. (eds.) Threats to Soil Quality in Europe EUR 23438 EN, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities; Luxembourg 2008 | packing density > 1.75 g cm-3 |
Salinization | Secondary salinization | FAO Global Map of Irrigation Areas - version 5.0 - area equipped for irrigation expressed as percentage of total area In Siebert, S., Henrich, V., Frenken, K. & Burke, J. 2013. Update of the digital global map of irrigation areas to version 5. Rheinische Friedrich-WilhelmsUniversität, Bonn, Germany and FAO, Rome, Italy https://www.fao.org/aquastat/ru/geospatial-information/global-maps-irrigated-areas/latest-version/ masked with the EEA’s Mediterranean biogeographical region. | Areas in Mediterranean biogeographical region where >30% is equipped for irrigation |
Loss of organic soils | Peatland degradation | UNEP Global Peatland Map 2.0 masked with Hotspots of croplands on peatlands in Europe (Fig. IV.29) In UNEP (2022). Global Peatlands Assessment – The State of the World’s Peatlands: Evidence for action toward the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of peatlands. Main Report. Global Peatlands Initiative. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi. https://www.unep.org/resources/global-peatlands-assessment-2022 | Peatlands under hotspots of cropland |
Soil consumption | Soil sealing | EEA Impervious Built-up (IBU) 2018 | No threshold applied (all built-up areas) |
* This threshold was chosen based on the policy recommendations (Finnish and Swedish Ministries of Environment [1], JRC [2], and the EU Sewage Sludge Directive [3]). However, in the dashboard, we applied lower ones (Cu > 50mg kg-1; Hg > 200μg kg-1; Zn > 65mg kg-1;Cd > 0.7mg kg-1;) to replicate the proportion of LUCAS soil samples found to have high metal content. The spatial interpolation of maps tends to smooth outliers.
[1] Ministry of the Environment, Finland, Government Decree 214/2007 on the Assessment of Soil Contamination and Remediation Needs, 2007 March
[2] Gawlik, B.M.; Bidoglio, G. Background Values in European Soils and Sewage Sludges; European Commission: Brussels, Belgium, 2006
[3] Sewage Sludge Directive: https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/waste-and-recycling/sewage-sludge_en