Application papers — Charter of Hydrological Groups of the Emilia-Romagna plain

The map describes the distribution of the Hydrological Groups of Soils through the polygons of the Plain Soil Charter on a scale of 1:50.000. Each polygon is described by the percentage of diffusion of the Hydrological Groups present in it. Hydrological Groups indicate the potential behaviour of soils in generating surface flow of water, according to the USDA-NRCS methodology (2009 version). The latter is based on the assumption that soils within the same climatic region that are similar in depth, infiltration capacity, weaving, structure and depth of the water table, have the same response to the runoff that is to the surface flow (Chapter 7 of the “National Engineering Hand book”, part 630 version 2009). According to the methodology there are four main groups, A, B, C and D with increasing potential runoff and three dual classes A/D, B/D, C/D where the second letter indicates the presence of groundwater within 60 cm. The legend indicates the Hydrological Group prevailing in polygons, in the case of coexistence of two prevailing Groups, the letters are separated from the “tattine”, e.g. A-D.