Regional Soils

The Trier region is located in the western part of Germany, Rhineland-Palatinate. It consists of the Hunsrück and Eifel region, and the Mosel valley. Soil development in the Trier region is mainly influenced by the parent material, and we find a wide scale of soil types, soil textures of the top horizons and parent materials. In the Hunsrück area the representing soil type is a silty clayey Cambisol derived from Devonian slate. In the Mosel valley the typical soils are Fluvisols from river sediments. The soil texture of the top horizon varies from loamy sand to sandy loam. In the Eifel region the representative soil types varies in a range of various parent materials, like iron-rich sandstone, limestone or clay sediments. The soils can be characterised as Vertic, Luvic or Haplic Stagnosols, Dystric or Eutric Cambisols, and Calcic Luvisols. The top horizon of most of the common soils had been developed from aeolian silt. Thus, the soil texture of the top horizon varies often from a silty loam to a silty clay.