BGS Soil Parent Material Model

BGS soil property data layers including parent material, soil texture, group, grain size, thickness and European Soil Bureau description at 1km resolution. A 1:50,000 scale version of this data is available for a licence fee. A parent material is a soil-science name for a weathered rock or deposit from, and within which a soil has formed. In the UK, parent materials provide the basic foundations and building blocks of the soil, influencing their texture, structure, drainage and chemistry. Soils are the result of weathering processes that occur on the Earth’s surface where the atmosphere meets the geosphere and hydrosphere. We live in this ‘critical zone’ relying on our soils to grow our food and sustain the biodiversity and health of our environment. The Soil Parent Material Model details the distribution of physiochemical properties of the weathered and unweathered parent materials of the UK to: facilitate spatial mapping of UK soil properties identify soils and landscapes sensitive to erosion provide a national overview of our soil resource develop a better understanding of weathering properties and processes Find out more at www.bgs.ac.uk. Contact BGS at [e-mail] if you create something new and innovative that could benefit others.