Guidelines for Surveying Soil and Land Resources

Contents......Page 4
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Contributors......Page 14
Part 1: Introduction......Page 16
The need for new Guidelines......Page 18
Rationale for land resource assessment......Page 19
The trend to quantification......Page 23
Approaches to land resource assessment......Page 24
Opportunities offered by new technology......Page 25
Towards a synthesis......Page 26
References......Page 27
The landscape continuum......Page 30
Methods of survey......Page 33
Selecting a survey method......Page 36
References......Page 37
Concepts......Page 42
Entities for field-based measurement......Page 48
Moving within the scale hierarchy......Page 51
Representing uncertainty......Page 55
References......Page 57
Part 2: Landscape context and remote sensing......Page 60
Introduction......Page 62
Some definitions for regolith......Page 63
Earth data resources......Page 64
Geological data......Page 65
Landform data......Page 66
Regolith data......Page 67
Hydrology and regolith......Page 69
Interpreting geological data for land resource survey......Page 70
Linking geological data with soil and land attributes......Page 72
References......Page 74
Soil and landscape evolution......Page 76
Environmental change in ancient landscapes......Page 79
Developing an understanding of landscape processes during survey......Page 81
Benefits of understanding soil and landscape processes......Page 84
References......Page 85
Key concepts......Page 90
Managing terrain data and generating DEMs......Page 92
Terrain analysis methods......Page 96
Use of terrain analysis in land survey......Page 103
References......Page 105
Hydrological processes......Page 108
Hydrological modelling......Page 121
Soil information for hydrological modelling......Page 123
References......Page 126
Applications and providers of information......Page 130
Principles and terms......Page 131
Survey design and planning......Page 135
Collection of vegetation attributes in the field......Page 138
Data analysis – classification and mapping......Page 142
Final outputs......Page 147
How the National Vegetation Information System works......Page 150
Future developments......Page 153
References......Page 154
Key concepts in land use mapping......Page 158
The Australian Land Use and Management Classification......Page 159
Survey methodology......Page 164
Data and metadata specifications......Page 166
Land use mapping progress......Page 168
References......Page 169
Air photographs......Page 172
Using air photographs......Page 173
Interpretation......Page 178
Relationship between photo interpretation units and map units......Page 180
References......Page 181
Fundamentals of imaging spectroscopy......Page 182
Data acquisition......Page 183
What do the data show?......Page 186
Field measurements and validation......Page 189
References......Page 191
Introduction......Page 194
Selection and calibration of imagery for temporal analysis......Page 195
Methods for temporal analysis......Page 197
Conclusion......Page 199
References......Page 200
Radioactive decay series and the gamma-ray spectrum......Page 204
Radioelement characteristics of rock and soil......Page 209
Applications in land resource survey......Page 214
References......Page 215
Part 3: Survey mechanics......Page 218
Introduction......Page 220
Objectives and purpose of the survey......Page 221
Scope and technical specifications......Page 223
Resources......Page 228
Project management......Page 231
Outputs......Page 233
Financial and legal considerations......Page 235
References......Page 237
Human resources......Page 240
Skills......Page 241
Equipment......Page 251
Information resources......Page 253
References......Page 254
Health and safety......Page 256
Pre-survey activities......Page 257
Georeferencing and navigation......Page 261
Site observations......Page 266
Soil observations......Page 267
Photography of landscape, site and profile......Page 271
Sampling for laboratory analysis......Page 272
References......Page 275
Preliminaries......Page 278
Conventional field measurement......Page 279
New systems for soil measurement......Page 282
Minimum data sets for land resource survey in Australia......Page 292
References......Page 297
Methods for qualitative survey......Page 300
Sampling......Page 305
Research phase......Page 308
Mapping phase......Page 314
Validation......Page 317
References......Page 319
Concepts......Page 322
Guidelines for local classification......Page 326
References......Page 328
Part 4: Digital soil mapping and pedometrics......Page 332
Soil entity......Page 334
Sampling using statistical methods......Page 336
References......Page 340
Exploratory data analysis......Page 342
Multivariate ordination and classification......Page 350
Statistical modelling......Page 355
Some remaining statistical issues......Page 359
References......Page 360
Pedotransfer functions in Australia......Page 364
Principles......Page 365
Types of pedotransfer functions......Page 367
Predictors......Page 368
Formulation and quality assurance......Page 369
Digital soil mapping......Page 371
Soil inference systems......Page 377
References......Page 378
Theory......Page 384
The experimental variogram......Page 386
Modelling the variogram......Page 387
Kriging: spatial estimation or prediction......Page 392
Sampling......Page 394
Inspecting data......Page 396
References......Page 397
Introduction......Page 398
Components of uncertainty......Page 399
Assessment of uncertainty......Page 400
Uncertainty and sensitivity in prediction......Page 404
Spatial uncertainty......Page 405
References......Page 406
Introduction......Page 410
Identifying data to keep......Page 411
Organising information......Page 413
Access to data......Page 418
References......Page 419
Ascertain what data exist and their custodian......Page 422
Collation and checking......Page 423
Framework for data......Page 427
Analysis......Page 428
Ensuring surveys provide maximum benefit......Page 429
References......Page 430
Colour plates......Page 434
Part 5: Land evaluation......Page 442
Approach and purpose......Page 444
Terminology and principles......Page 448
Implementing an FAO-style assessment......Page 453
Developments......Page 459
Assessing the impacts of land management......Page 461
References......Page 462
Models......Page 466
Model complexity and uncertainty......Page 470
Input data for models......Page 472
Sampling strategies......Page 474
Modelling in a survey framework......Page 475
Model verification......Page 478
Conclusions......Page 479
References......Page 480
Introduction......Page 484
Sampling......Page 485
Options for measurement......Page 488
Mapping......Page 495
Irrigation design......Page 496
Monitoring and adaptive management......Page 499
Interpreting yield maps and managing zones......Page 500
References......Page 501
Introduction......Page 506
Approach and purpose......Page 507
The need for a whole-system view......Page 509
Sampling......Page 510
Measurement......Page 514
Data management......Page 516
Archiving......Page 517
Change over time......Page 518
Conclusions......Page 521
References......Page 525
Evolution of environmental law......Page 530
Decision-making using soil and land information......Page 531
Legislation on assessment of land resources......Page 532
Legislation and policy on land use planning......Page 533
Legislation and policy on land management......Page 534
Legislation and policy on environment protection......Page 536
Australian Standards......Page 537
Legal obligations associated with land and soil survey and use of data......Page 538
References......Page 539
Planning......Page 540
Examples of communication planning......Page 544
Guidelines for survey reporting......Page 547
Digital communication products......Page 552
Communication activities......Page 556
References......Page 559
Index......Page 562