Soil Formation

Parent material, topography, organisms and climate represent the key soil forming factors that interact over a timespan of millennia to produce soil. These soil forming factors produce soil through physical, chemical and biological weathering occurring overtime. The relative influence of the individual factors is responsible for differences found in soils. Soils in Ireland are relatively young, having formed since the retreat of the last ice age approximately 15,000 years ago. Parent materials in Ireland are broadly categorised into solid bedrock geology and bedrock derived glacial geology, with the latter accounting for the majority of parent materials across the Irish landscape. The Irish climate is strongly influenced by its position on the eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean and on the western fringes of continental Europe resulting in a mild maritime climate with prevailing south-westerly winds. The high rainfall rates in Ireland are a dominant driver of soil genesis with leaching and gleying as the two main processes driving soil development.