A NEW APPROACH TO SOIL SURVEY APPLIED TO A MINING FEASIBILITY STUDY IN THE WET-DRY TROPICS

摘要

A soil survey was conducted as part of a feasibility study for a uranium mine proposal 250 km east of Darwin. The soil materials along a 15 km transport corridor were recorded using a stratigraphic approach rather than soil profiles or soil landscapeunits. Soil material descriptions were combined in a manner which enabled geomorphic sequences and soil layer relationships to be identified and a fades/process model to be constructed. This method focussed on descriptive data most appropriate to the development project, and the models created enabled alternative transport routes to be evaluated without further detailed survey. The study also enabled the information to be presented in a form suitable for readers unfamiliar with conventional pedologicalnomenclature, and the survey technique can be easily modified to provide specific soils information for other land uses or management problems.