Last October, DeepHorizon turned one year old. In these twelve months, the consortium, coordinated by Dr. Mathieu Javaux from UCLovain, has worked on planning, harmonizing protocols, and conducting fieldwork for the homogenous collection and characterization of soil profiles.

From the very design phase of the project, the consortium has worked on how to reveal the critical functions hidden in the subsoil that affect the provision of ecosystem services after the deployment of innovative solutions. On October 6th, a consortium meeting took place where the progress made in each of the work packages (WPs) was shared with the consortium members.

The main activity of our first year has consisted of getting our hands dirty, literally. The expected sampling campaigns are nearly complete at virtually all designated sites. Collecting subsoil data presents a unique set of challenges that must be overcome to perform comparative analyses. To this end, and with the goal of ensuring our data is robust and reusable by the community of stakeholders, the consortium has worked on two main milestones:

1. Harmonization Protocols: A pragmatic approach has been adopted to align analytical protocols, using standard protocols where possible and meticulously describing novel methods where necessary to capture the complexity present in deep soil layers.

2. Framework: A data model and a dedicated subsoil ontology have been developed, thus laying the groundwork for a future European subsoil database.

While the fieldwork teams carried out sample collection, our modelers have been updating the digital tools we use to understand soil functions. For this, the Bodium and Ecosim models have been expanded. Key developments include differentiating between the rhizosphere and non-rhizospheric soil, implementing new models for dissolved organic carbon, and preparing a version of the models for stakeholders such as farmers or land managers.

At our consortium meeting, we were joined by the coordinator, Dr. Rosa Mosquera, of the sister project SUS-SOIL, where we discussed opportunities for collaboration and knowledge exchange, such as the analytical protocols carried out and utilizing their data to test and refine our models.

We are also advancing in our socioeconomic analysis, preparing to study what the impacts of management practices might be in real-world scenarios.

What is the immediate future of the project? The collected samples are being transferred from the field to the lab. The next year will focus on intensive chemical, physical, and biological analyses to generate the data that will support our findings.

The consortium will meet again in Bern, Switzerland, in January 2026.

We are currently identifying 100 test sites, as well as three case study areas under different land uses and regions to broaden our research. If you are interested in collaborating, either through test sites, or simply wish to learn more about our methodology, you can get in touch via our website.