The French Soil Quality Monitoring Network (RMQS) is a national program for the assessment and long-term monitoring of the quality of French soils. This network is based on the monitoring of 2240 sites representative of French soils and their land use. These sites are spread over the whole French territory (metropolitan and overseas) along a systematic square grid of 16 km x 16 km cells. The network covers a broad spectrum of climatic, soil and land-use conditions (croplands, permanent grasslands, woodlands, orchards and vineyards, natural or scarcely anthropogenic land and urban parkland). The physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil are measured on each site, during the first campaign and presently on the second campaign. The spatial and temporal variability of soil properties are explained by biophysical variables, sources of contamination, history of land-use and management practices on each plot.

The first sampling campaign in metropolitan France took place from 2000 to 2009. This campaign focused on soil contamination assessment and made it possible to map key soil parameters (28 variables) as well as 12 trace metal elements and 70 persistent organic pollutants. The sampling method, measurements and observations on each site are described in the “RMQS guidelines”1 (in French: “manuel du RMQS” see associated publications). The second campaign started in 2016 and should last 12 years.

The dataset includes raw bulk density and coarse fragment data from samples performed on the pits until 50 cm, according three pseudo-replicates for each corresponding layer. Weight at field, dry weight, coarse fragment weight, volume are available for each pseudo-replicate. Soil moisture, bulk density , fine earth density and coarse fragment content were thus calculated.