International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering

P. Shwetha ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Civil Engineering, Don Bosco College of Engineering, Fatorda, Goa-403726, IN

Abstract

Soils are a product of the factors of formation and continuously change over the earth’s surface. The analysis of the spatial variability of soil properties is important for land management and construction of an ecological environment. Soils are characterized by high degree of spatial variability due to the combined effect of physical, chemical or biological processes that operate with different intensities and at different scales. The spatial variability of soil physical properties is inherent in nature because of geological and pedological factors. Soil physical properties such as soil particle size distribution, bulk density, porosity and organic matter content are interrelated and have important effects on watershed hydrology. The primary objective of this study was to analyze the spatial variability of soil physical properties of forest soils of Pavanje river basin. It was observed that, the spatial variability of sand silt and bulk density increased from top to bottom depths, but in clay, spatial variation decreased from top depths to bottom depths. Spatial variation of organic matter content was relatively more in the top layer and it decreased in the bottom layers. The above findings indicate that environmental factors may lead to differences in spatial variability among soil physical properties.

Keywords

Spatial Variability, Soil Physical Property, Forest Soil, Bulk Density, Organic Matter Content.

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