Introduction to the special section ‘Applications of electromagnetic induction to digital soil mapping’

Authors: TRIANTAFILES, JOHN - University Of New South Wales; Corwin, Dennis

Submitted to: Soil Use and Management
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2017
Publication Date: 6/1/2017
Citation: Triantafiles, J., Corwin, D.L. 2017. Introduction to the special section ‘Applications of electromagnetic induction to digital soil mapping’. Soil Use and Management. 33:177. doi: 10.1111/sum.12355.

Interpretive Summary: Electromagnetic induction (EMI) has become the most widely used tool to map soil properties, including salinity, water content, texture, cation exchange capacity, organic matter, and bulk density. The widespread use of EMI to map soil properties is due to its ease of use and ease of integrating into a mobile platform, enabling the collection of tremendous amounts of spatial information. This special section within Soil Use and Management, which will be featured in each of the remaining issues of this Anniversary volume, contains the first collection of papers based upon the use of EMI instruments to provide information about the spatial variation in soil properties with a focus on how the information is used to improve and enhance soil use and management outcomes at the field, farm, and district level. The centerpiece paper demonstrates how EMI data collected at the field scale can be used to predict soil salinity across a much larger spatial extent (i.e., farm and district levels), providing a means of minimizing errors and accounting for spatial variation in salinity at finer scales than was previously possible. A case study for California’s Coachella Valley is presented. The spatial information is useful for site-specific management, soil quality assessment, and monitoring management or climate change induced changes on soil health. It is of direct benefit to producers, irrigation district managers, farm advisers, ag consultants, cooperative extension specialists, soil and water resource specialists, and university researchers.

Technical Abstract: Use of electromagnetic induction (EMI) instruments has increased as a tool to map soils because it provides a means of locating suitable sampling sites that provide the basis for mapping the spatial variability of various soil properties either directly or indirectly measured with EMI, including salinity, water content, texture, cation exchange capacity, organic matter, and bulk density. Proximal sensors, such as EMI, that do not require physical contact with the soil; consequently, they are also relatively easy to use and make mobile. Electromagnetic induction measures the apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa), which is a function of chemical (e.g. mineralogy or salinity), physical (e.g. clay content), and hydrological (i.e. water) properties. This special section within Soil Use and Management, which will be featured in each of the remaining issues of this Anniversary volume, contains the first collection of papers based upon the use of EMI instruments and ECa data to provide information about the spatial variation in soil properties and with a focus on how the information is used to improve and enhance soil use and management outcomes at the field, farm and district level.