Consistency of spatial dependence of soil chemical properties in two fields: a geostatistical study

Abstract

This study examined consistency of spatial variation of plant-available soil nutrients P, K, Mg and soil pH in two fields of an area of 54 and67.5 ha(haplic Luvisol and luvic Chernozem) in the region of Český Brod (Central Bohemia). Computed variograms showed a spatial dependence extending to150 mon an average with small fluctuations for most analysed data sets. These results of two different fields indicate that soil spatial variation is rather a general feature than specific to every field. However, soil available Mg in one field showed a shorter-range (89 m) and soil pH in the other showed considerably longer-range (375 m). Consistency of spatial variation features makes it possible to construct regional average and proportional variograms with great precision. This can bring further practical opportunities.

Keywords

• soil properties
• spatial variation
• geostatistics
• variogram
• spatial dependence