Organic carbon in topsoil from arable land and grazing land of Europe.

Knowledge about soil quality at a European scale is urgently required for e.g., the new European Chemicals Regulation, the pending EU Soil Protection Directive and, the assessment of soil as a repository of organic carbon in a changing climate. A unique data collection on total organic matter (TOC) has been established by the Geological surveys in 33 European countries, covering an area of more than 5 million km 2. The sampling density of each arable land (0-20 cm) and grazing land (0-10 cm) is of 1 site per 2500 km2. The sampling was carried out according to a jointly agreed field protocol. All samples were prepared and analysed in just one laboratory. All samples were sampled during 2008 and early 2009. For both arable land and grazing land the results show a tendency to higher contents of TOC in the northern countries, Ireland and United Kingdom than other countries, even though some local differences are present for most countries. The concentrations of TOC vary between 0.4 and 46 % w/w for arable land and between 0.4 and 49 % w/w for the grazing land. Managing soil organic matter are important for e.g., the ecosystem servicing including soil, air and water quality, fewer pollutants, productivity, and mitigation of climate change.