Using Multivariate Geostatistics to Assess Patterns of Spatial Dependence of Apparent Soil Electrical Conductivity and Selected Soil Properties

Abstract EN

The apparent soil electrical conductivity (E C a ) was continuously recorded in three successive dates using electromagnetic induction in horizontal (E C a -H) and vertical (E C a -V) dipole modes at a 6 ha plot located in Northwestern Spain.

One of the E C a data sets was used to devise an optimized sampling scheme consisting of 40 points.

Soil was sampled at the 0.0–0.3 m depth, in these 40 points, and analyzed for sand, silt, and clay content; gravimetric water content; and electrical conductivity of saturated soil paste.

Coefficients of correlation between E C a and gravimetric soil water content (0.685 for E C a -V and 0.649 for E C a -H) were higher than those between E C a and clay content (ranging from 0.197 to 0.495, when different E C a recording dates were taken into account).

Ordinary and universal kriging have been used to assess the patterns of spatial variability of the E C a data sets recorded at successive dates and the analyzed soil properties.

Ordinary and universal cokriging methods have improved the estimation of gravimetric soil water content using the data of E C a as secondary variable with respect to the use of ordinary kriging.