An assessment of field-scale variation of textural fractions was investigated by soil sampling, laboratory analysis and eventually soil mapping by geostatistical techniques and GIS development for a terrace soil of Bangladesh to determine clay distribution throughout the soil in three depth increment (0-30cm, 30-60cm, 60-90cm). The mean particle size distribution of topsoil corresponded to silt loam texture class while subsoil textural distributions were clay loam, silty clay and silty clay loam. The deepsoil clearly corresponded to clay texture class. The topsoil texture fractions showed large variability in comparison to subsoil and deepsoil. The clay content sharply increases with depths. The mean clay contents were 23%, 38% and 43% for the 0-30cm, 30-60cm and 60-90cm depth increments respectively. The subsoil showed distinctly higher clay content than the overlying topsoil causing an abrupt textural change between top and subsoil. The subsoil clay content was nearly twice that of the topsoil, and even more in the deepsoil with a maximum around 50%. This textural difference might be caused by an illuvial accumulation of clay or by pedogenetic formation of clay in the subsoil or destruction of clay in the surface horizon or by a combination of two or more of these processes. The soil maps produced through geostatistical technique (Variograms and Kriging) fairly represents the distribution of textural fractions of the studied site. The maps represent the spatial variation of soil textural properties for clay and sand distribution. Thus, provide useful information on soil texture, moisture, soil fertility and organic matter content. These maps also provide a means of monitoring spatial variation of soil properties that potentially influence crop production in the Terrace soils of Bangladesh.

Author Name: Md. Noor-E-Alam Siddique

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Keywords: Terrace soil, textural fractions, semivariogram, kriging, soil spatial variability and soil mapping

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EISSN: 2312-7945

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