Influence of Soil Water Content, Clay, Temperature, and Carbonate Minerals on Electrical Conductivity Readings Taken with an EM-38

The use of electromagnetic induction techniques in soils studies

“…In soils that have low salt contents, EC a is strongly influenced by variations in clay and moisture contents (Brevik and Fenton, 2002;Carroll and Oliver, 2005;Johnson et al, 2001;Kachanoski et al, 1990). As a consequence, King et al (2005) associated changes in EC a with changes in soil type and hydrology.…”

“…Variations in EC a are produced by changes in the electrical conductivity of earthen materials. Apparent electrical conductivity will increase with increases in soluble salt, water, clay contents, and temperature (Brevik and Fenton, 2002;Kachanoski et al, 1988;McNeill, 1980a;Rhoades et al, 1976).…”

Improving Map Accuracy of Soil Variables Using Soil Electrical Conductivity as a Covariate

“…Middle values were measured on the backslope where the soils are formed in loess and the underlying paleosol. Because the soil was not dominated by carbonates, the variation in soil EC values was likely related to soil moisture content and textural properties (Brevik and Fenton, 2002). Textural properties influence soil parameters such as organic matter and ionic properties; thus, it was concluded that soil EC is measuring variation in soil properties related to moisture and texture.…”

Continuous field soil moisture content mapping by means of apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) measurement

“…Apparent electrical conductivity (EC a ) measurements provide a wealth of data in a relatively short time period. Relation between EC a and salinity Rhoades, 1982, 1984;Halvorson and Rhoades, 1976), moisture content (Fitterman and Stewart, 1986;Kaffka et al, 2005), soil structure (Brevik and Fenton, 2002;Rhoades et al, 1999) and other factors (Cook et al, 1992;Ellsbury et al, 1999) were published earlier.…”