Electrical multi-depth survey to assess soil cover spatial organization

Abstract : 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.