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Comparison of Different Methods in the Transition Matrix Approach to the Numerical Classification of Soil Profiles
Author(s) -
Norris J. M.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1971.03615995003500060032x
Subject(s) - stage (stratigraphy) , sequence (biology) , matrix (chemical analysis) , mathematics , statistics , algorithm , geology , chemistry , paleontology , chromatography , biochemistry
Abstract Dale et al. (1970) have proposed a method for the numerical classification of sequences which was used by Norris and Dale (1971) for the classification of soil profiles. In the first stage the horizons from all the profiles are grouped and the profiles redescribed as a sequence of groups. In the second stage the sequences are classified by the program TRANSMAT. This paper examines the effect of using different first stage methods, different numbers of groups at the end of the first stage and methods similar to TRANSMAT in the second stage. Both the first stage method and the number of groups used bear significantly on the results. However, alternative techniques to TRANSMAT can be used with little loss of precision but with greatly increased data storage capacity.