Spatial Variabilty of Chosen Soil Properties on Mountainous Area on Example of Kasińczanka Stream Basin, Western Carpathians

Abstract

The phenomenon of erosion on mountain and submontane areas influences directly on high variability of soil properties. In the work there were presented results of analysis of spatial variability of bulk density, total porosity, organic matter content and saturated hydraulic conductivity, on eroded slopes of the Kasińczanka stream basin. Geostatistical analysis was carried out using the kriging method, based on irregular network, consisted of 52 points, situated by means of the GPS. Taking into account the calculated variability coefficient it was stated, that on the investigated area, the most flexible spatially was saturated hydraulic conductivity, while the less flexible turned out total porosity. Using the determined models of semivariance, the maps of spatial variability of chosen parameters were drafted. It was stated that high value of variance influenced on higher smoothing of spatial distribution in interpolation. Results of geostatistical analysis will allow to find locations for new measuring points, what has substantial significance in mountain areas, for precision analysis of soil properties. Based on the obtained results, it can be stated that the kriging method may be useful tool for determination spatial variability analysis of soil properties on an areas of mountain basins.

Analysis of Spatial Variability of Selected Soil Properties in the Hard Coal Post-Mining Area

“…The lowest variability was noted for bulk density, specific gravity and total porosity. The obtained results are approximate to the findings of other authors [Warrick and Nielsen 1980, Brandyk et al 1996, Klatka et al 2015, Kruk et al 2018. The kriging technique was used to determine the points of theoretical semivariance for each of the analyzed soil properties.…”