7.1 - Introduction 7.1.1 - Soil functions 7.1.1.1 - Biomass production 7.1.1.2 - Filtering, buffering and transformation 7.1.1.3 - Biological habitat and gene reserve 7.1.1.4 - Foundation 7.1.1.5 - Source of raw materials 7.1.1.6 - Historical medium 7.1.1.7 - Interaction of functions 7.1.1.8 - Functions at risk 7.1.2 - Soils of Europe 7.1.2.1 - Well drained soils 7.1.2.1.1 - 'Black earths' 7.1.2.1.2 - Sandy soils 7.1.2.1.3 - Acid loamy soils 7.1.2.1.4 - Non-acid loamy soils 7.1.2.1.5 - Clayey soils 7.1.2.2 - Shallow and stony soils 7.1.2.3 - Semi-arid and salt-affected soils 7.1.2.4 - Imperfectly drained soils 7.1.3 - Soil vulnerability
7.2 - Problems and Threats 7.2.1 - Soil erosion 7.2.1.1 - Causes 7.2.1.2 - Magnitude 7.2.1.3 - Impacts 7.2.1.4 - Remedies 7.2.2 - Soil acidification 7.2.2.1 - Causes 7.2.2.2 - Magnitude 7.2.2.3 - Impacts 7.2.2.4 - Remedies 7.2.3 - Soil pollution by heavy metals 7.2.3.1 - Cause 7.2.3.2 - Magnitude 7.2.3.3 - Impacts 7.2.3.4 - Remedies 7.2.4 - Soil pollution by pesticides and other organic contaminants 7.2.4.1 - Causes 7.2.4.2 - Magnitude 7.2.4.3 - Impacts 7.2.4.4 - Remedies 7.2.5 - Soil pollution by nitrates and phosphorous 7.2.5.1 - Causes 7.2.5.2 - Magnitude 7.2.5.3 - Impacts 7.2.5.4 - Remedies 7.2.6 - Soil pollution by artificial radionuclides 7.2.7 - Contaminated soil 7.2.7.1 - Causes 7.2.7.2 - Magnitude 7.2.7.3 - Impacts 7.2.7.4 - Remedies 7.2.7.5 - Legislation concerning contaminated land 7.2.7.5.1 - Where are the polluted sites? 7.2.7.5.2 - How clean is clean? How dirty is dirty? 7.2.8 - Soil compaction 7.2.8.1 - Causes 7.2.8.2 - Magnitude 7.2.8.3 - Impacts 7.2.8.4 - Remedies 7.2.9 - Other threats 7.2.9.1 - Organic matter losses 7.2.9.2 - Salinisation 7.2.9.3 - Waterlogging
7.3 - Responses 7.3.1 - Ecological responses 7.3.1.1 - Critical load: a useful policy tool 7.3.2 - Technical responses 7.3.3 - Policy and legislation 7.3.3.1 - Perspectives for future policies and approaches 7.3.3.2 - Current situation
7.4 - Conclusions