Investigation of the relationship between landform classes and electrical conductivity (EC) of water and soil using a fuzzy model in a GIS environment

Marzieh Mokarram,Dinesh Sathyamoorthy

doi:10.5194/se-7-873-2016

Abstract

Abstract. Soil genesis is highly dependent on landforms as they control the erosional processes and the soil physical and chemical properties. The relationship between landform classification and electrical conductivity (EC) of soil and water in the northern part of Meharloo watershed, Fars province, Iran, was investigated using a combination of a geographical information system (GIS) and a fuzzy model. The results of the fuzzy method for water EC showed 36.6 % of the land to be moderately land suitable for agriculture; high, 31.69 %; and very high, 31.65 %. In comparison, the results of the fuzzy method for soil EC showed 24.31 % of the land to be as not suitable for agriculture (low class); moderate, 11.78 %; high, 25.74 %; and very high, 38.16 %. In total, the land suitable for agriculture with low EC is located in the north and northeast of the study area. The relationship between landform and EC shows that EC of water is high for the valley classes, while the EC of soil is high in the upland drainage class. In addition, the lowest EC levels for soil and water are in the plains class.

Highlights

The pedogenesis of the soils is determined by the climate (Cerdà, 1998a), the parent material (Prosdocimi et al, 2016) and human management (Debolini et al, 2015; Yan et al, 2015; Zhao et al, 2015; Cerdà et al, 2016), as a consequence of the landforms and processes that act on them
The results showed that the changes of CaCO3, electrical conductivity (EC) and organic matter (OM) are minimal in the landforms of sand sheets, hammocks, sabkhas, clay flats and former lake bed
The results show that in plains, the EC value is greater than the other landform types that are similar to results of the study area

Summary

Introduction

The pedogenesis of the soils is determined by the climate (Cerdà, 1998a), the parent material (Prosdocimi et al, 2016) and human management (Debolini et al, 2015; Yan et al, 2015; Zhao et al, 2015; Cerdà et al, 2016), as a consequence of the landforms and processes that act on them. Soil features are largely controlled by the landforms on which they are developed. The landforms formed by the same geomorphic processes are the main key feature because they can be identified, and were responsible for producing the undercoat material of the soils (Park and Burt, 2002; Henderson et al, 2005; Mini et al, 2007; Poelking et al, 2015). Based on the type of landform, other parameters of watersheds can be predicted, such as soil, erosion, biological parameters and so on (Berendse et al, 2015; Brevik et al, 2015; Decock et al, 2015; Keesstra et al, 2012; Adugna et al, 2015; OchoaCueva et al, 2015; Smith et al, 2015)

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Results

Conclusion