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Forest Soil Chemistry and Terrain Attributes in a Catskills Watershed
Author(s) -
Johnson Chris E.,
Ruiz-Méndez Javier J.,
Lawrence Gregory B.
Publication year - 2000
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/sssaj2000.6451804x
Subject(s) - cation exchange capacity , watershed , soil water , terrain , soil science , soil ph , spatial variability , soil survey , organic matter , environmental chemistry , soil chemistry , environmental science , chemistry , soil test , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , ecology , mathematics , statistics , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , machine learning , computer science , biology
Knowledge of soil chemistry is useful in assessing the sensitivity of forested areas to natural and anthropogenic disturbances, but characterizing large areas is expensive because of the large sample numbers required and the cost of soil chemical analyses. We collected and chemically analyzed soil samples from 72 sites within a 214‐ha watershed in the Catskill Mountains of New York to evaluate factors that influence soil chemistry and whether terrain features could be used to predict soil chemical properties. Using geographic information system (GIS) techniques, we determined five terrain attributes at each sampling location: (i) slope, (ii) aspect, (iii) elevation, (iv) topographic index, and (v) flow accumulation. These attributes were ineffective in predicting the chemical properties of organic and mineral soil samples; together they explained only 4 to 25% of the variance in pH w , effective cation‐exchange capacity (CEC e ), exchangeable bases, exchangeable acidity, total C, total N, and C/N ratio. Regressions among soil properties were much better; total C and pH w together explained 33 to 66% of the variation in exchangeable bases and CEC e Total C was positively correlated with N (r = 0.91 and 0.96in Oa horizons and mineral soil, respectively), exchangeable bases( r = 0.65 , 0.76 ), and CEC e( r = 0.54 , 0.44 ), indicating the importance of organic matter to the chemistry of these acidic soils. The fraction of CEC e occupied by H explained 44% of the variation in pH w Soil chemical properties at this site vary on spatial scales finer than typical GIS analyses, resulting in relationships with poor predictive power. Thus, interrelationships among soil properties are more reliable for prediction.