Tomographic image analysis in representative measurements of soil density

Abstract

Images obtained via gamma ray computed tomography were used in this study to define the representative elementary area (REA) to be adopted in soil density measurements (ds). Concentric square areas, ranging from 1.2 to 1162.8 mm2, were selected in images of 18 samples of soil clods in order to obtain the REA. Clods were also submitted to the paraffin clod method (standard) to determine ds. Results obtained revealed that samples with areas over 640.1 mm2 produce representative ds values.