The extractable Cl is the fraction in the Cl pool that is mobile and more easily accessible for living organisms such as plants and microbes. Previous research has shown that microbes are important for the biogeochemical cycling of Cl and that they impact the retention of Cl in soil environments. The aim with this study was to determine the fractions of extractable Cl in different soil layers (humus and minerogenic soil horizons). Extracts from a 36Cl tracer experiment were used, where the soil from a French coniferous forest had been incubated and monitored for 120 days. The dominating fraction of the total Cl in this soil is Clin. The results show that Cl- uptake by microbes is prevalent, this was highest in humus reaching a peak of approximately 25 %. This uptake was initially rapid and stabilised by the end of the experiment. This increase confirms that the microbial uptake is substantial and need to be taken into consideration when estimating the total amount of Clin in soil. Also low fractions of Clorg-ex can be found in the extracts of approximately 1 %, which is in contrast to other studies where it is higher. This may be due to the fact that in this study the fraction represent the newly formed extractable organic chlorine. Comparisons with previous studies of Clorg confirms that the formation occurs in the surface layer and are then transported as chlorinated organic matter down to the minerogenic soil horizons.