The Estimation of Soil Organic Matter Variation in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands Using Remote Sensing Data

Majed Ibrahim,Afnan Al-Salameen,Abdallah Al-Fawwaz,Fatima Ghanem

doi:10.4236/ijg.2019.105033

Abstract

Soil organic matter (SOM) is an important term to realize soil productivity and quality that is extremely influential on soil physical, chemical and biological processes; SOM is one of the key soil properties controlling nutrient budgets in agricultural production systems and is an important index of soil productivity. Remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques were used to assess organic matter in soil and determine the relationship between measures SOM in field and digital data to calculate or obtain the correlation coefficients applied to evaluate the strength and direction of the linear relationships. In this study Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) and Bare Soil Index (BSI) were used. The results show that the relationship between vegetation indices (NDVI, SAVI) and SOM in whole study area was (R2 = 0.19, p < 0.05), while the relationship in arid areas was (R2 = 0.01, p < 0.05), and the relationship in semi-arid areas was (R2 = 0.13, p < 0.05). It can be concluded that the diversity in vegetation cover and humidity effects to the relationship between vegetation indices (NDVI, SAVI) and SOM, where these relationships increase rapidly in semi-arid areas more than arid areas. In the other hand about the relationship between SOM and BSI (R2 = 0.11, p < 0.05), soil organic carbon increases with increasing NDVI and decreasing BSI. NDVI, SAVI and BSI were considered a useful index to detect the spatial distribution of SOM concentrations and mapping using remote sensing data.

Highlights

Soil organic matter (SOM) has a significant effect on the soil processes which in turn affects the ability and productivity of the soil
Results of laboratory measurements of soil indicate that organic matter percentage in the soil (Organic Carbon) in study area varies from low to very low based on Table 1
It was found that the relationship between Vegetation Index (NDVI, Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI)) and SOM was statistically significant and the (R2 = 0.19, p < 0.05), as shown in Table

Summary

Introduction

Soil organic matter (SOM) has a significant effect on the soil processes which in turn affects the ability and productivity of the soil. It has an impact on water capacity of soil, soil structure and nutrients which increases soil quality [1]. SOM is the most important indicator of soil quality and productivity. It consists of a complex and varied mixture of organic substances [4]. SOM contents affect the soil color where, the dark-colored soil has a higher content of organic matter (OM), and vice versa is true [5]

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Conclusion