The Soil Library at the University of Neuchâtel
The Soil Library at the University of Neuchâtel is a unique and long-standing scientific resource that supports the study of soil properties and their evolution over time. Initiated by Professor emeritus Jean-Michel Gobat and his collaborators, the collection spans more than three decades (1983–2014) and includes over 4,000 classified and referenced soil samples, mainly from Switzerland.
This soil library is composed of several key elements:
- Digitized laboratory logbooks (1997–2013) detailing analytical results
- Field notebooks containing additional contextual data, curated by Vanessa Rion, Alyssa Fischer, and Sarah Semeraro
- A physical archive of soil samples, systematically organized by profile and horizon, stored in the Faculty of Science’s basement
- An indexed archive of academic manuscripts (theses, reports, etc.) referenced in an Excel database
- A structured database encompassing field descriptions, laboratory analyses, geolocation data, and bibliographic references
Together, these resources enable the exploration of all five soil-forming factors—parent material, climate, organisms, relief, and time. The inclusion of time-series samples makes the library especially valuable for detecting long-term changes in soil properties.
A recent study, Semeraro et al. (2024), demonstrates the scientific value of this archive. By analyzing a subset of the collection, the authors documented significant temporal trends in Swiss soils over a 37-year period:
The Soil Library continues to serve as a key resource for soil science research, education, and the preservation of pedological knowledge in Switzerland and beyond.
