Dominant soil map in ‘Las Batuecas-Sierra De Francia’ and ‘Quilamas’ nature parks (Central System, Salamanca, Spain)

Abstract

To correctly and rationally plan human activities in fragile conservation areas, an exhaustive study of the soil-forming factors (climate, lithology, geomorphology, topography, hydrology and vegetation) including the soil relationships, should be conducted. We analysed the geospatial distributions of different soil types in the ‘Las Batuecas – Sierra de Francia’ and ‘Quilamas’ natural areas using soil sampling and laboratory analyses to determine the soil associations and dominant soil types and so create toposequence maps. These maps were used to assess potential soil uses and resources and to identify environmental problems from natural and/or anthropogenic causes. The GIS techniques used in this study provide georeferenced maps of forming factors and soil distribution that can be used to create databases that include fact sheets and photographs of the soil profiles. This soil information was exported in ‘kmz’ format to geospatially visualise the different soil units in 3D virtual tours using the Google Earth platform. This method of soil mapping allows a multidisciplinary approach that utilises other thematic layers and facilitates decision-making processes by the managers and directors of the natural areas studied in this work.