Evaluación y medida del sellado de suelos en el Norte de Madrid (España)

Soil sealing caused by urban growth leads to irreversible loss of soil ecosystem, which is rarely considered in urban development projects. Here the process of land consumption is analyzed using various sources of spatial representation that are treated with techniques of remote sensing and GIS. Nowadays new development projects in northern Madrid maintain a sealed soil about 41-64 %, reducing the negative impacts of land sealing, although it is partly a response to the slowdown in construction during the crisis. This study aims to establish a working methodology to detect and measure soil loss in four PAUs in the Madrid Autonomous Community, as a working example at a local scale. The accessibility of databases, cartographic material and satellite images facilitates thematic mapping updates. The PAUs have been built on soils mainly corresponding to Luvisols with minor inclusions of Calcisols, Leptosols, Cambisols and Regosol. The low agrological capacity of these soils means that the soil sealing does not affect very fertile soils and therefore there is no significant agronomic loss.