Determination of spatial variability of some soil properties by geostatistical methods

Soil properties vary with soil depth, but can show significant changes in very short horizontal distances. Knowing these changes in terms of soil fertility and evaluating them in geostatic is important for more economical fertilizer use in agricultural production and sustainable use of the soil. Today, parcel-based geostatical data is produced in many developed countries, preventing unnecessary fertilizer and pesticide use and contributing to soil and environmental protection. Therefore, more efficient and economic agricultural production is realized by using soil sustainably. In this study, geostatistical interpretation of a land with intensive agricultural production was carried out within the geographical information system by evaluating soil samples taken from two different depths at short distance grids. The geostatistics data of the soil characters were examined and the actual color distribution maps of each soil character were created. In addition, the soil properties examined were evaluated using some limit values in terms of soil fertility and each character was classified according to its limit value in the soil and mapped. According to the results, soils were found to be adequate in terms of nitrogen, but inadequate in terms of phosphorus and potassium. In addition, the geographical location of the adequate/inadequate status of examined each soil character was mapped and their areas were calculated. Moreover, it was determined that 71,40 da of the study area, which is totally 103,8 da, is absolute agricultural land (suitable for intensive cultivated agriculture and must be used for the agricultural purpose only) and 32,40 da is marginal land (not suitable for intensive cultivated agriculture and can be used for non-agricultural purposes).