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Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz , hossenrezaei@tabrizu.ac.ir
Abstract: (510 Views)
1- Introduction
The lands sustainability depends on soil stability as one of its components. Aggregate stability is an index for evaluating soil quality and the main factor of soil stability. Soil organic matter and clay are known as the most important soil properties that play a main role in the stability of soil aggregates. Therefore, in recent studies, the ratio of soil organic carbon to clay has been expressed as an indicator of soil aggregate stability. In a large scale, land management based on soil properties such as soil aggregate stability, requires the preparation of soil aggregate stability index maps. In this regard, Digital Soil Mapping can be a useful tool. Generating soil characteristics maps from combining digital maps of soil routine properties, can be a suitable solution to facilitate soil survey studies. The present research work was designed to investigate the possibility of using secondary maps produced from the combination of soil properties maps that focus on the condition of land sustainability based on soil aggregate stability.
2- Material and methods
The present research work, which was conducted in northwestern Iran, was completed in line with a previous study in which the preparation of a digital map of clay and soil organic carbon was one of its results. The soils of study area are Inceptisols and Aridisols which are under agriculture land use. According to the main aim of the study, aggregate stability was determined by two methods for 15 study points at five standardized depth intervals (H1: 0-5, H2: 5-15, H3: 15-30, H4: 30-60, and H5: 60-100 cm) based on the GlobalSoilMap protocol. Firstly, the aggregate stability index, the ratio of soil organic carbon to clay content, was extracted from the map generated by combining a digital map of clay and soil organic map according to the formula of mentioned index. Also, aggregate stability was determined in the laboratory by wet aggregate stability method for study points. Finally complete randomized factorial designed at the same five standard depths as the statistical method to assess the performance of the generated map based on soil aggregate stability index.
3- Results
It was found that the clay and organic carbon content were ranged from 12.02 to 65.25 and 0.18 to 3.42 all over the study area. Also, descriptive statistics of aggregate stability by laboratory analysis revealed the min and max values were 8.34, and, 47.17 respectively. The results showed that with depth increment, soil organic carbon decreased while clay and aggregate stability increased. The digital maps of soil organic carbon and clay which produced in previous study showed that there aren’t distinct trends around different direct of study area. The result of generated map from combining based on aggregate stability index, the ratio of soil organic carbon to clay content, showed that with depth increment, aggregate stability increased. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov (K-S) test, showed that the obtained data for aggregate stability from studied methods do not have a normal distribution. Therefore before statistical analysis, data were normalized by Sin conversion method. The statistical analyses showed that there was no significant difference between directly measured aggregate stability index in laboratory and the data extracted from generated maps.
4- Discussion & Conclusions
From the alignment of changes in the aggregate stability index with the clay content and its contradiction with changes in the organic carbon content, it can be concluded that although organic carbon and clay are known to be the main components in aggregates stability, but their ratio can also play an important role in soil aggregates stability. Also, it should be paid to the role of other factors involved in the aggregates stability, such as the diagnostic horizons that contain various salts and particles. According to statistical analysis, although there are differences between aggregate stability index from studied methods, but it is not significant. The final digital map prepared by integrating soil organic carbon and clay demonstrates an acceptable result regarding soil aggregate stability at the studied standardized depths. In this regard, it seems that using of indexes with powerful algorithm and larger number of soil characteristics lead to have higher accuracy and precision in estimating aggregate stability. Finally, it can be concluded that the usage of popular indices with a focus on the importance of contributed environmental covariates for mapping base characteristics responds to soil surveying demands. The present research revealed the crucial role of base maps for preparing key indices to improve the efficacy of soil resource management observations.
The lands sustainability depends on soil stability as one of its components. Aggregate stability is an index for evaluating soil quality and the main factor of soil stability. Soil organic matter and clay are known as the most important soil properties that play a main role in the stability of soil aggregates. Therefore, in recent studies, the ratio of soil organic carbon to clay has been expressed as an indicator of soil aggregate stability. In a large scale, land management based on soil properties such as soil aggregate stability, requires the preparation of soil aggregate stability index maps. In this regard, Digital Soil Mapping can be a useful tool. Generating soil characteristics maps from combining digital maps of soil routine properties, can be a suitable solution to facilitate soil survey studies. The present research work was designed to investigate the possibility of using secondary maps produced from the combination of soil properties maps that focus on the condition of land sustainability based on soil aggregate stability.
2- Material and methods
The present research work, which was conducted in northwestern Iran, was completed in line with a previous study in which the preparation of a digital map of clay and soil organic carbon was one of its results. The soils of study area are Inceptisols and Aridisols which are under agriculture land use. According to the main aim of the study, aggregate stability was determined by two methods for 15 study points at five standardized depth intervals (H1: 0-5, H2: 5-15, H3: 15-30, H4: 30-60, and H5: 60-100 cm) based on the GlobalSoilMap protocol. Firstly, the aggregate stability index, the ratio of soil organic carbon to clay content, was extracted from the map generated by combining a digital map of clay and soil organic map according to the formula of mentioned index. Also, aggregate stability was determined in the laboratory by wet aggregate stability method for study points. Finally complete randomized factorial designed at the same five standard depths as the statistical method to assess the performance of the generated map based on soil aggregate stability index.
3- Results
It was found that the clay and organic carbon content were ranged from 12.02 to 65.25 and 0.18 to 3.42 all over the study area. Also, descriptive statistics of aggregate stability by laboratory analysis revealed the min and max values were 8.34, and, 47.17 respectively. The results showed that with depth increment, soil organic carbon decreased while clay and aggregate stability increased. The digital maps of soil organic carbon and clay which produced in previous study showed that there aren’t distinct trends around different direct of study area. The result of generated map from combining based on aggregate stability index, the ratio of soil organic carbon to clay content, showed that with depth increment, aggregate stability increased. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov (K-S) test, showed that the obtained data for aggregate stability from studied methods do not have a normal distribution. Therefore before statistical analysis, data were normalized by Sin conversion method. The statistical analyses showed that there was no significant difference between directly measured aggregate stability index in laboratory and the data extracted from generated maps.
4- Discussion & Conclusions
From the alignment of changes in the aggregate stability index with the clay content and its contradiction with changes in the organic carbon content, it can be concluded that although organic carbon and clay are known to be the main components in aggregates stability, but their ratio can also play an important role in soil aggregates stability. Also, it should be paid to the role of other factors involved in the aggregates stability, such as the diagnostic horizons that contain various salts and particles. According to statistical analysis, although there are differences between aggregate stability index from studied methods, but it is not significant. The final digital map prepared by integrating soil organic carbon and clay demonstrates an acceptable result regarding soil aggregate stability at the studied standardized depths. In this regard, it seems that using of indexes with powerful algorithm and larger number of soil characteristics lead to have higher accuracy and precision in estimating aggregate stability. Finally, it can be concluded that the usage of popular indices with a focus on the importance of contributed environmental covariates for mapping base characteristics responds to soil surveying demands. The present research revealed the crucial role of base maps for preparing key indices to improve the efficacy of soil resource management observations.
Received: 2025/05/25
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