European Soil Bureau Research Report No. 4
Information on agricultural soils in Finland
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European Soil Bureau Research Report No. 4
Summary
Agrogeological mapping in Finland has been carried out by the Agricultural Research Centre since the 1920s using a national soil classification based on texture and organic matter content. In the beginning, results were published at the scale of 1:50,000 or 1:100,000. Later the mapping was carried out at scale 1:20,000 and the same scale was used when work continued in co-operation with the National Survey Board and the Geological Survey. About one-third of the whole country has now been surveyed. The maps prepared during the last few years are available only in numeric form.
J. Sippola
Institute of Soils and Environment, Agricultural Research Centre,
SF-31600 Jokioinen,
Finland
This makes possible the production of maps not only at different scales, but also maps containing different information according to specific needs. A substantial number of samples have been collected during the surveys. Some of the samples have been analysed for texture and organic matter for bases of soil classification. Nutrient elements and pH have been determined on all samples with a method which is used also for commercial soil testing in Finland (Vuorinen and Mäkitie, 1955).
Because of the young age of Finnish soils, the genetic classification has little practical use. However, the Finnish contribution for the soil map of the world using FAO soil classification system has been prepared in the 1970s. Based on this material, together with that of other Scandinavian countries, the soil map has been published (Rasmussen et al. 1989). The same material has been forwarded to the European Geographical Soils Database project. For the European Analytical Profiles Database analytical results of typical soils have been provided.
The Agricultural Research Centre holds a lot of soil information data collected during soil surveys and other investigations. This data mostly exists as individual computer databases and contains no geographic co-ordinates. However, the most recently collected data does have co-ordinates to make localization possible. At the moment we are organizing this data to form an “Environmental information register”. It is planned to store soil data from other important investigations in this register, too.
The soil testing method used in Finland is the acid-ammonium-acetate extraction method at pH 4.65 (Vuorinen and Mäkitie, 1955). Macronutrients P, K, Ca and Mg in addition to pH are normally determined. The Commercial Soil Testing Service handles about one hundred thousand samples yearly. Quite a number of results have been collected over the years and reports are written periodically. According to the results soil pH has increased because of liming and at present averages 5.9. The phosphorus concentration is 12 mg/l soil, potassium 146 mg/l, calcium 1517 mg/l and magnesium 237 mg/l on average in the year 1988.
The acid-ammonium-acetate EDTA method is used to extract micronutrients and heavy metals (Lakanen and Erviö, 1971). Surveys of nutrients and heavy metals in cultivated soils and in the indicator crop timothy grass have been carried out in years 1974 and 1987 to check their status and development. According to the results of these surveys, relatively large increases were observed in concentrations of soil P, B, Co Cr, Cu and Mo. Zn was the only nutrient which decreased in concentration during the measured period.
Of the harmful heavy metals, the concentration of Cd increased and that of Pb decreased. The same method has been used also in global studies in co-operation with FAO (Sillanpää, 1982). The data exist as a computer database, and GIS methods are under development to improve the possibilities for further interpretation and presentation of results obtained in different investigations..
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European Soil Bureau Research Report No. 4
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European Soil Bureau Research Report No. 4
References
LAKANEN, E. and ERVIÖ, R. (1971). A comparison of eight extractants for determination of plant available micronutrients in soil. Acta Agric. Fenn. 123: 233- 232.
RASMUSSEN, K. et al., (1989). Soil map of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Scale 1:2,000,000. Landbruksforlaget, Oslo.
SILLENPÄÄ, M. (1982). Micronutrients and the nutrient status of soils: a global study. FAO Soils Bull. 48. 444 p. FAO, Rome.
VUORINEN, J. and MÄKITIE, O. (1955). The method of soil testing in use in Finland. Agrogeol. Publ. 63: 1-44.
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European Soil Bureau Research Report No. 4
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