Soil Mapping and Process Modeling for Sustainable Land Use Management

Paulo Pereira, Eric Brevik, Miriam Muñoz-Rojas, Bradley Miller

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9780128052006
• eBook ISBN:
  9780128052013
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Agronomy
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Soil Mapping and Process Modeling for Sustainable Land Use Management is the first reference to address the use of soil mapping and modeling for sustainability from both a theoretical and practical perspective. The use of more powerful statistical techniques are increasing the accuracy of maps and reducing error estimation, and this text provides the information necessary to utilize the latest techniques, as well as their importance for land use planning. Providing practical examples to help illustrate the application of soil process modeling and maps, this reference is an essential tool for professionals and students in soil science and land management who want to bridge the gap between soil modeling and sustainable land use planning. - Offers both a theoretical and practical approach to soil mapping and its uses in land use management for sustainability - Synthesizes the most up-to-date research on soil mapping techniques and applications - Provides an interdisciplinary approach from experts worldwide working in soil mapping and land management

Part I

Theory

Outline

Chapter 1 Historical Perspectives on Soil Mapping and Process Modeling for Sustainable Land Use Management

Chapter 2 Soil Mapping and Processes Modeling for Sustainable Land Management

Chapter 3 Goal Oriented Soil Mapping: Applying Modern Methods Supported by Local Knowledge

Chapter 1

Historical Perspectives on Soil Mapping and Process Modeling for Sustainable Land Use Management

Eric C. Brevik¹, Paulo Pereira², Miriam Muñoz-Rojas³, Bradley A. Miller^4,5, Artemi Cerdà⁶, Luis Parras-Alcántara⁷ and Beatriz Lozano-García⁷, ¹Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND, United States, ²Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania, ³The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia, ⁴Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United States, ⁵Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany, ⁶University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain, ⁷University of Córdoba, Cordoba, Spain

Abstract

Basic soil management goes back to the earliest days of agricultural practices, approximately 9000 BCE. Through time humans developed soil management techniques of ever increasing complexity, including plows, contour tillage, terracing, and irrigation. Spatial soil patterns were being recognized as early as 3000 BCE, but the first soil maps did not appear until the 1700s and the first soil models finally arrived in the 1880s. The beginning of the 20th century saw an increase in standardization in many soil science methods and wide-spread soil mapping in many parts of the world, particularly in developed countries. However, the classification systems used, mapping scale, and national coverage varied considerably from country to country. Major advances were made in pedologic modeling starting in the 1940s, and in erosion modeling starting in the 1950s. In the 1970s and 1980s advances in computing power, remote and proximal sensing, geographic information systems, global positioning systems, statistical and spatial statistics among other numerical techniques significantly enhanced our ability to map and model soils. These types of advances positioned soil science to make meaningful contributions to sustainable land use management as we moved into the 21st century.

Keywords

Soil science history; soil survey; soil science standards; soil erosion; soil quality

Introduction

Basic soil management goes back to the earliest days of agricultural practices, approximately 9000 BCE. Through time humans developed soil management techniques of ever increasing complexity, including plows, contour tillage, terracing, and irrigation. Spatial soil patterns were being recognized as early as 3000 BCE, but the first soil maps did not appear until the 1700s and the first soil models finally arrived in the 1880s. The beginning of the 20th century saw an increase in standardization in many soil science methods and wide-spread soil mapping in many parts of the world, particularly in developed countries. However, the classification systems used, mapping scale, and national coverage varied considerably from country to country. Major advances were made in pedologic modeling starting in the 1940s, and in erosion modeling starting in the 1950s. In the 1970s and 1980s advances in computing power, remote and proximal sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), and statistics and spatial statistics among other numerical techniques significantly enhanced our ability to map and model soils. These types of advances positioned soil science to make meaningful contributions to sustainable land use management as we moved into the 21st century.

Brief Review of Developments Prior to the 20th Century

In many respects we can say that soil science has a long prehistory and a brief history (De la Rosa, 2008, 2013). Soil science has long standing ties to agriculture. The earliest evidence of agricultural practices comes from an area near Jarmo, Iraq dating to 9000 BCE, and there is evidence of irrigation from southern Iraq dating to 7500 BCE (Troeh et al., 2004). Between 6000 and 500 BCE soil management techniques including early plows, terracing, drainage, and contour tillage were developed in various parts of Europe (Fig. 1.1) (Brevik and Hartemink, 2010) and by the Maya and pre-Inca in Central and South America, who also engineered soils (Hillel, 1991; Jensen et al., 2007). Along with advances in production, various forms of land degradation, including soil erosion and salinization, became a problem very early in the history of agriculture (Hillel, 1991; Troeh et al., 2004). It is likely that early humans used a trial and error approach to determine which sites would work well for agricultural production, but by 3000–2000 BCE there is good evidence that humans were recognizing spatial patterns in soil and utilizing the more desirable soils for cropping (Krupenikov, 1992; Miller and Schaetzl, 2014). During the Sumerian and Babylonian civilizations, until 1000 BCE, agriculture continued to be developed. Soils were distinguished by their natural fertility and aptitude to support irrigation. From 2000 BCE the Greeks improved numerous treatises in which they explained their knowledge about different soil properties. Soil erosion was a serious problem in Ancient Greece; therefore it was thoroughly studied. Likewise, by about 500 BCE settlement patterns in many parts of the world were correlated to the kinds of soils present (Miller and Schaetzl, 2014). The Romans continued the Greek’s studies. From 200 BCE, Catón, Varrón, Plinio, and later (in the first century AC) Columela proclaimed agriculture as a science, and considered soil as one of the most important components.

Figure 1.1 Terraces, such as these in Spain, have been used for thousands of years to make steep slopes suitable for agricultrual production. Source: Photograph by Artemi Cerdà.

Knowledge about a subject must be accumulated before that subject can be classified (Marbut, 1922), and classification of soils began thousands of years ago. Early examples include the Chinese classification from 2000 BCE (Gong et al., 2003) and that of the Greek philosopher Theophrastus from c. 300 BCE (Brevik and Hartemink, 2010). In addition, the Romans developed a soil classification system for the soils of Italy and improved previous knowledge about soil fertility and ways to maintain and restore it. There are very important and interesting written works, such as Res Rustica (Columela, 42 CE) where the author describes soils in detail. In the Western Hemisphere the Maya civilization in Central America created a detailed soil classification that they used to guide their agricultural decisions long before Europeans arrived (Wells and Mihok, 2010). Therefore humans have sought to describe and manage soils based on their properties and have recognized a spatial distribution to those properties for thousands of years. However, while this was a precursor to soil mapping and modeling, recognizing the existence of spatial distribution of soil properties is different than actually mapping and modeling those properties.

The first recordings of spatial soil information were written accounts linking soil properties and attributes to land ownership documents. These were utilized in China as early as 300 CE, Arabia as early as 500 CE, and Europe as early as 800 CE (Miller and Schaetzl, 2014). Soil properties and attributes were first mapped in Europe beginning in the 1700s (Brevik and Hartemink, 2010), something that was made possible by improved base maps (Miller and Schaetzl, 2014). The 1800s saw increasing interest in soil mapping in Europe and the United States; much of the mapping in the United States was done by state geological surveys in an attempt to justify their budgets to state legislatures that were looking for a return on their investment (Aldrich, 1979).

In parallel with these advances in the first recordings of spatial soil information, it is important to point out the treatise “Agricultura General” (de Herrera, 1513), based on the previous studies of Columela, where the author introduced highlighted points about soil quality. After that, during the 19th century, advances were made in many areas that would ultimately prove to be important to understanding soil science for the purpose of sustainable management. The “Mineral Theory” of plant nutrition was first proposed by C. Sprengel in the late 1820s (Feller et al., 2003a) and became widely accepted after von Liebig’s (1840) publication of Chemistry as a Supplement to Farming and Plant Physiology, which was a major improvement for both soil fertility and soil chemistry (Sparks, 2006). Many advances were made in soil mapping and cartography in both Europe and the United States, and the soil profile concept was developed (Brevik and Hartemink, 2010). Through his work on the influence of earthworms on soil development, Charles Darwin became a pioneer in soil biology (Feller et al., 2003b).

A major breakthrough in soil mapping and modeling occur...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Part I: Theory
• Part II: Instrumentation and Sensors Used for Gaining Information on Soil Related Parameters
• Part III: Case Studies and Guidelines
• Index