Software for micromorphometric characterization of soil pores obtained from 2-D image analysis

Abstract

Studies of soil porosity through image analysis are important to an understanding of how the soil functions. However, the lack of a simplified methodology for the quantification of the shape, number, and size of soil pores has limited the use of information extracted from images.The present work proposes a software program for the quantification and characterization of soil porosity from data derived from 2-D images. The user-friendly software was developed in C++ and allows for the classification of pores in terms of size, shape, and combinations of size and shape. Using raw data generated by image analysis systems, the software calculates the following parameters for the characterization of soil porosity: total area of pore (Tap), number of pores, pore shape, pore shape and pore area, and pore shape and equivalent pore diameter (EqDiam). In this paper, the input file with the raw soil porosity data was generated using the Noesis Visilog 5.4 image analysis system; however other image analysis programs can be used, in which case, the input file requires a standard format to permit processing by this software.The software also shows the descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, variance, and the coefficient of variation) of the parameters considering the total number of images evaluated. The results show that the software is a complementary tool to any analysis of soil porosity, allowing for a precise and quick analysis.

Soil microstructure alterations induced by land use change for sugarcane expansion in Brazil

“…Pore shape was classified into three groups as in Cooper et al. (): rounded, elongated and complex. Two indexes were used to determine the pore shape, as described in Equations and : where P is the perimeter of the pore and A is the area.…”

“…The dry samples were impregnated with a polyester resin, styrene monomer and fluorescent dye (Tinopal BASF ® ) by capillarity in a vacuum chamber. After impregnation, vertically oriented soil thin sections (c. 30 μm thick) were obtained for qualitative and semi‐quantitative description (Bullock et al., ; Cooper, Castro, & Coelho, ; Stoops, ) and quantitative image analysis (Cooper, Boschi, Silva, & Silva, ). Figure illustrates the sampling procedure adopted in the field.…”

“…The total area of pores (TAP) for each image was calculated as the percentage of the sum of the areas of the individual pores divided by the total area of the assessed image (Hallaire & Cointepas, 1993). Pore shape was classified into three groups as in Cooper et al (2016): rounded, elongated and complex. Two indexes were used to determine the pore shape, as described in Equations 1 and 2:…”

Gênese e cronologia de feições erosivas superficiais e subsuperficiais

“…A impregnação e aquisição de imagens foi realizada como descrito por Castro et al (2003). As amostras coletadas foram secas ao ar durante 10 dias e em estufa de circulação forçada de ar (40°C Cooper et al (2016). Dos blocos impregnados e endurecidos dos horizontes do solo da trincheira 3 (T3) e dos bolsões de areia da T3 e da T4, seções de 0,5 cm foram cortadas para a preparação de lâminas delgadas de dimensões 4,5 x 7 cm, para posterior descrição micromorfológica (Castro et al, 2003).…”

Comportamento compressivo e morfometria dos poros de solos com textura e estrutura contrastantes

“…introduziram o uso dessa técnica para estudar a continuidade dos poros ePAGLIAI et al (1983) estudaram o efeito de diferentes práticas de manejo na estrutura do solo, dando ênfase à porosidade. No Brasil, os estudos de pedogênese são os que mais utilizam a micromorfologia, seguidos pelos de manejo e conservação do solo(COOPER et al, 2016).…”