Developments in Digital Soil Morphometries

摘要

Digital soil morphometries is defined as the application of instruments and techniques for measuring and mapping soil profile properties and deriving continuous depth functions. Here, we discuss some of the main results that were presented at the "Inaugural Global Workshop on Digital Soil Morphometries" that was held in June 2015. We focus on instruments and techniques that have been used to measure soil properties in the field as well as in the laboratory, on modelling of soil depth functions, on the mapping of the soil profile (soil profile imaging) and on the use and applications of digital soil morphometries. There have been considerable advancements in sampling and analysing soil profile properties in the field. Some instruments are restrictedto dry soil, whereas others are affected by ambient light conditions. The mapping of the soil profile has yielded several methods to derive soil horizons and can deal with the variation within soil horizons. There are a certain number of soil depth functions that can be used for most soil properties and soil types. The use and application of digital soil morphometries is mostly confined to enhanced pedological insight including soil classification, but with time, we envision that it can transform the way we observe, analyse and understand soils.