Electrical multi-depth survey to assess soil cover spatial organization

Solène Buvat (1, 2) , Yves Coquet (1, 2) , Julien Thiesson (3) , Alain Tabbagh (4) , Joël Michelin (5) , Bernard Nicoullaud (6)

1 ISTO - Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans - UMR7327
2 Biogéosystèmes Continentaux - UMR7327
3 UFR 918 Terre - environnement - Biodiversité
4 SISYPHE - Structure et fonctionnement des systèmes hydriques continentaux
5 EGC - Environnement et Grandes Cultures
6 URSols - Unité de Science du Sol (Orléans)

Geophysical technics can be a great help for soil mapping since they are non-destructive and fast. Electrical data from a 3-depth survey, usually treated as three apparent resistivity maps, are considered here as many electrical soundings with three apparent resistivity values. The study of the vertical succession of these values led to a geophysical taxonomy. Geophysical taxa mapping shows that their spatial distribution is related to pedological characteristics. Compared to a pre-existing soil map, the delineations of taxon clusters closely matched soil units boundaries and leads to the assignment to each soil type of a specific apparent electrical resistivity profile.

Domains: Continental interfaces, environment; Global Changes

Solène Buvat, Yves Coquet, Julien Thiesson, Alain Tabbagh, Joël Michelin, et al.. Electrical multi-depth survey to assess soil cover spatial organization. Alex McBratney. Global Soil Map, CRC Press, pp.465-470, 2014, GlobalSoilMap: Basis of the global soil information system, 978-1-138-00119-0. ⟨10.1201/b16500-83⟩. ⟨insu-00955377⟩