BRGM mag no.2: How can we save our soils?
© BRGM
Soils play an essential role for the economy, the environment and society: they support biodiversity, regulate the climate, filter pollutants and store carbon and water. However, these functions are now being degraded by multiple pressures, through artificialization, pollution, erosion and loss of organic matter.
Studying soils, particularly urban and industrial soils, or phenomena such as erosion and pollution, is one of BRGM's missions. The main article in the second issue of BRGM mag is devoted to this major subject.
Understand soils better to protect them more effectively
The European directive on soil health, adopted at the end of 2025, reflects a growing awareness of the importance of this ecosystem. It is part of a protective strategy aimed at guaranteeing the positive effects of healthy soils on human beings, nature and the climate.
BRGM, the French geological survey, helps implement this directive and, more broadly, soil conservation through several strategic actions by:
- providing information on soil quality and the dissemination of geochemical background values for reference purposes,
- doing research on soil erosion, the decontamination of polluted soils and the revitilisation of degraded soils, right through to the production of 'neosols',
- providing support for soil-related public policies, such as information on PFAS in water, aquifer recharge, management of the risk of clay shrinkage and swelling, and the development of geothermal energy and geological storage of CO2.
BRGM mag, a magazine about the strategic role of the subsurface in the major issues of our time
The second issue of BRGM mag continues to pursue the magazine's ambition: to share knowledge, enlighten and engage in dialogue and to make the Earth sciences accessible to as many people as possible. For beneath our feet lie some of the solutions for meeting today's environmental, energy and sovereignty challenges.
BRGM mag, which has about 20 pages and is published 3 times a year, is intended to be accessible to all, the general public, decision-makers, partners, teachers and students.
The magazine features:
- popular, educational articles that make scientific information understandable without oversimplifying it,
- a modern, attractive design that attracts readers who want to share its content,
- varied formats: in-depth articles, interviews, infographics, reports, FAQs, all designed to maintain interest in ways appropriate for different subjects.
Contents of BRGM mag. no.2
EDITORIAL / Philippe Freyssinet: Studying soils and related phenomena is one of our missions
AT A GLANCE / BRGM news
RESEARCH NEWS / A magma reservoir beneath the island of Mayotte
DOSSIER / How can we save our soils?
INTERVIEW / Daniel Hubé: "On certain sites, the pollution inherited from the First World War still exceeds any pollution from more recent industrial sources.”
DECODING/ What if we stored water beneath the surface using physical underground barriers?
IN THE FIELD / LITHOS: For responsible lithium production in Europe
QUID? / Mystery photo
