The Research Unit of Soil Science studies the organization, the evolution and the functioning of the soils at various space scales (soil profile, agricultural field, catchment, landscape) and time scales (rainfall event, cropping period, rotation, decade, and century). It analyzes the variability of the characteristics and properties of soils (texture, mineralogy, porosity, aggregate stability, hydraulic properties, natural pedogeochemical background, and geochemistry) according to their origin, their use and of the climate.
ICurrent works relate in particular to the cumulative effects (short and medium term) of agricultural practices and climate global change on the soil evolution with an objective of soil survey and soil protection, in terms of (i) preserving the soils from water erosion and compaction; (ii) avoiding any degradation likely to deteriorate their role of protection of water and air, their role crop production. The applied topics to which the Unit contributes are diversified; leaching of nitrate and pesticides, estimation of the contaminations in trace elements, greenhouse gas emissions, and precision agriculture. The Research Unit develops various methods for soil data acquisition (geophysics, digital elevation model), data up-scaling of transfer and spatial modelling. It has important collaborations at the regional, national, European and international levels. It contributes to the French and European programmes of soil monitoring and closely collaborates with the INFOSOL Unit of INRA Orléans.

• Activity 1 : Spatial organisation and evolution of soils
• Activity 2 : Analysis of soil properties and of their variability
• Activity 3 : Agro-environmental functioning of soils