A sensors-based profile heterogeneity index for soil characterization

Abstract

The technological and computational development has raised new possibilities for soil scientists to describe and infer about soil-forming processes and functions. Thus, why not to insert the contrasts between soil layers in a profile revealed by proximal sensing? We proposed to study the soil profile heterogeneity by reflectance (Vis-NIR-SWIR), X-ray fluorescence and magnetic susceptibility aiming to quantify it with the proposed “Profile Heterogeneity Index” (PHI) through seven soil sequences in twenty-seven locations over different hillslope positions and parent materials. The study was conducted in a 165-ha farm, at Rio das Pedras municipality, São Paulo State, Brazil. The differences between two consecutive soil layers were calculated by subtracting the data to the bottom and the immediately above for each soil profile. The results are depicted as a depth function with proportional colors to highlight the heterogeneity in the soil profiles. This approach provided a new method to identify where the transitions of soil attributes occur exactly and improve the understanding about soil-formation factors and processes. In this study, greater PHI values were mainly related to erosion and redeposition process through the landscape, differences in soil parent materials and also soil-forming processes. The sensors can furnish important and complementary information to the characterization of soil profile heterogeneity.