The analysis of soil cores polluted with certain metals using the Box–Cox transformation

Abstract

To define the soil properties for a given area or country including the level of pollution, soil survey and inventory programs are essential tools. Soil data transformations enable the expression of the original data on a new scale, more suitable for data analysis. In the computer-aided interactive analysis of large data files of soil characteristics containing outliers, the diagnostic plots of the exploratory data analysis (EDA) often find that the sample distribution is systematically skewed or reject sample homogeneity. Under such circumstances the original data should be transformed. The Box–Cox transformation improves sample symmetry and stabilizes spread. The logarithmic plot of a profile likelihood function enables the optimum transformation parameter to be found. Here, a proposed procedure for data transformation in univariate data analysis is illustrated on a determination of cadmium content in the plough zone of agricultural soils. A typical soil pollution survey concerns the determination of the elements Be (16 544 values available), Cd (40 317 values), Co (22 176 values), Cr (40 318 values), Hg (32 344 values), Ni (34 989 values), Pb (40 344 values), V (20 373 values) and Zn (36 123 values) in large samples.