When soil becomes sealed

How do sealed and natural soils differ?

Sealed and unsealed natural soils differ in their profile description, properties, forming factors and functions. In module 2, you learned about the five soil forming factors for natural, unsealed soils.

Soil classification systems, such as the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) including criteria to describe and classify sealed soils. Many, but not all, urban and sealed soils classify as technosol according to WRB. We invite you to visit the ISRIC World Soil Information webpage to view the profile of a technosol. It can also be interesting for you to have a look at anthrosols.

Can you find this section in the virtual tour of the World Soil Museum at ISRIC? © Marie-Cécile Gruselle, NIBIO.