Das Projekt "INQUA Project 1216 - RAISIN: Rates of soil forming processes obtained from soils and paleosols in well-defined settings" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Zürich, Geographisches Institut durchgeführt. The project RAISIN represents a core project of the Focus Area Group PASTSOILS. One of the major goals of the Focus Area Group will be achieved through RAISIN: Rates of soil forming processes in different climates, obtained from soils and paleosols in settings where climatic conditions and duration of soil development are known, will be assessed and documented. Thus, the project will provide a solid base for future interpretation of paleosols in the frame of palaeo-environmental reconstructions. Numerous data on soil development with time, many of them based on soil chronosequence studies in various regions, have been published in the past decades. The main aim of the project is hence to bring together scientists working on rates of soil-forming processes in different regions of the world to share and discuss their results, review and compare published data and finally produce a document representing the current state of knowledge on soil formation rates in different climates. The outcome of the project will be published in a special issue of Quaternary International to make it available to the scientific public. Thus, a common standard for interpreting paleosols in soil-sediment successions in terms of duration and environmental conditions of soil development will be created. Moreover, gaps in our current knowledge will be identified in the process of reviewing existing data in the frame of the project. This will stimulate future research and possibly lead to collaborative projects aiming on closing the identified gaps step by step.