Premium
Optimal sampling strategies for mapping soil types. I. Distribution of boundary spacings
Author(s) -
BURGESS T. M.,
WEBSTER R.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.244
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2389
pISSN - 0022-4588
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1984.tb00621.x
Subject(s) - sampling (signal processing) , boundary (topology) , distribution (mathematics) , soil science , mathematics , soil map , environmental science , computer science , statistics , mathematical analysis , soil water , computer vision , filter (signal processing)
SUMMARY The pattern of soil types that occur in a region can be described simply in terms of the distributions of spacings between successive soil boundaries and the probabilities of transitions from soil type to soil type. Studies of eight detailed soil maps of England and Wales, representing a very wide range of terrain patterns, showed that in all instances the interboundary spacings measured along sample transects were very satisfactorily described by the gamma distribution. In some instances the shape parameter of the distribution was sensibly 1, so that the simpler negative exponential function fitted the observed distributions well. Transition probability matrices distinguished complex and nondescript soil patterns from the more strongly repetitive ones.