Land capability classification of Vernazza catchment, Cinque Terre National Park, Italy

Figures & data

Figure 1. Location of the study area in the region of Liguria (north-western Italy).

Figure 2. Study area: geological map (a) and land use types (b).

Table 1. Parameters used for LCC.

	→ LCC CLASSES →								LCC SUBCLASSES
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
PARAMETERS ↓	Soils suitable to agricultural use				Soils suitable to pasture and forest		Soils not suitable to agricultural and pasture use		S
Useful depth (cm)	>100	>60, ≤100	≥25, ≤ 60		<25
Texture of upper horizon	Clay + Silt <70 or Clay <35 or Silt <60 or Sand <85	Clay + Silt ≥70 or ≤ 35 Clay <50 or Silt <60 or Sand <85	Clay ≥ 50 or Silt ≥ 60 or Sand ≥ 85
Coarse fragment of upper horizon (%)	≤ 15	>15 and ≤ 35	35 and ≤ 70		> 70
Stoniness (%) ≥ 7,5 cm	≤ 0,1	> 0,1 and ≤ 3		> 3 and ≤ 15		> 15 and ≤ 50	> 50
Presence of continuous rock (%)	≤ 2			> 3 and ≤ 15		> 15 and ≤ 50	> 50
Fertility of upper horizon	5,5 < pH < 8,5 or TSB > 50% or CSC > 10meq or CaCO3 ≤ 25%	4,5 ≤ pH ≤ 5,5 or 35 < TSB ≤ 50% or 5 < CSC ≤ 10meq or CaCO3> 25%	pH < 4,5 or pH > 8,4 or TSB ≤ 35% or ≤ 5meq
Drainage	Good	moderately fast	moderately low	Very low	Not possible				W
Flooding	Absent	Low	Moderately	High	Very High
Climatic limitation	Absent	Low	Moderately			High	Very High		C
Slope (%)	≤ 2	> 2 and ≤ 8	> 8 and ≤ 15	> 15 and ≤ 25	> 25 and ≤ 45	> 45 and ≤ 100	> 100		E
Erosion rate	Absent		Low	Moderately			High	Very High
AWC (cm)	> 100		> 50 and ≤ 100	≤ 50					S

Table 2. Classes of LCC.

Class number	Capability class description
1	Lands have few limitation: this class is suitable for cultivated crops, pasture, range, production forest, woodland and industrial plant.
2	Lands with some limitation that reduce the choice of plant can be cultivated and needs moderate conservation practice. This class is suitable for cultivated crops, pasture, range, production forest, woodland and industrial plant.
3	Lands have more severe limitations than Class II and need special conservation practice. This Class may be used for cultivated crops, pasture, range, production forest, protection forest and wildlife reserve.
4	Lands have more severe limitations that make the choice of plant more limited and require very careful management. This Class may be used for crops, pasture, range, woodland, production forest, protection forest and nature reserve.
5	Lands have little or no erosion hazard but have other limitations impractical to remove that limit their use largely to pasture, range, woodland, production forest, protection forest and nature reserve.
6	Lands have severe limitations that make them generally unsuited to cultivation and limit their use largely to pasture or range, woodland, production forest, protection forest and nature reserve.
7	Lands have very severe limitations that make them unsuited to cultivation and that restrict their use argely to grazing, woodland/ or wildlife, protection forest and nature reserve.
8	Lands have limitations that preclude their use for commercial plant production and pasture and restrict their use to wildlife, protection forest and nature reserve

Table 3. LCC of the pedo-landscape unit map.

Soil map unit ↓	Useful depth (cm)	Texture of upper horizon	Coarse fragments of upper horizon (%)	Stoniness ≥ 7,5 cm (%)	Presence of continuous rock (%)	Fertility of upper horizon	Drainage	Flooding	Climatic limitation	Slope (%)	Erosion rate	AWC (cm)	FINAL class	SUB class
Soil association UC 1	1	1	2	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	S
	1	1	2	2	1	4	1	1	1	2	1	1	4	S
UC 2	1	1	2	4	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	4	S
UC 3	3	1	3	3	3	3	1	1	1	1	1	3	3	S
UC 4	3	1	2	4	1	2	1	1	1	4	1	2	4	S E
UC 5	5	1	3	2	6	3	1	1	3	3	1	3	6	S
Soil association UC 6	5	1	3	4	7	3	1	1	4	3	1	3	7	S
	4	1	4	4	1	2	1	1	7	4	1	3	7	E
UC 7	5	1	2	3	4	4	1	1	7	3	1	2	7	S
UC 8	1	1	3	4	3	2	3	1	1	2	1	1	4	S
UC 9	1	1	2	4	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	4	S
UC 9	2	1	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	S
UC 10	2	1	3	4	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	4	S
Soil association UC 11	4	1	2	3	6	3	1	1	1	2	1	4	6	S
	1	1	2	2	4	2	1	1	1	6	1	4	6	E
UC 12	1	1	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	3	S
UC 13	5	1	2	4	4	4	1	1	6	3	1	1	6	S
UC 14	4	1	4	3	1	1	2	1	3	3	1	2	4	S
UC 15	3	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	S
UC 16	3	1	3	5	6	1	2	1	1	3	1	2	6	S
UC 17	1	1	3	5	5	1	2	1	7	3	1	2	7	S

Figure 3. Results of land capability analysis.