Abstract
Integrated watershed models require spatially differentiated soil information. However, in many regions of the world the limited availability of soil data hinders an appropriate simulation of hydro-ecological processes. Such circumstances lead to unsupported statements, poor statistics, misrepresentations, and, ultimately, to bad resource management. The Western Bug catchment in west Ukraine is an example of such a region. In the former Soviet Union, soil classification primarily focused on soils of agricultural importance, whereas, forested, urban, industrial, and shallow soil territories were left underrepresented in the classification and soil maps. Spatially differentiated soil texture data are required to predict soil hydraulic properties using pedotransfer functions (PTFs), along with soil maps. Furthermore, the Ukrainian soil texture scheme does not match the particle size classes commonly used with PTFs. To overcome these shortcomings, a fuzzy logic methodology was applied, based on terrain and vegetation/land use analysis and soil sampling, to close the information gaps. For the application of PTFs, a procedure was tested to estimate missing values of soil texture distribution. Applied methods were evaluated using recent soil surveys, measured soil texture, and water retention properties, while having in consideration the limitations brought by scarce soil data for integrated watershed modelling purposes.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by funding from the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) in the framework of the project “IWAS—International Water Research Alliance Saxony” (grant 2WM1028). This work was partly supported by FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal. We also would like to thank the co-workers of the Soil Science and Soil Geography and Applied Geography and Cartography Departments of the Lviv Ivan Franko National University for their valuable cooperative help during our field campaigns in the Ukraine.
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Tavares Wahren, F., Tarasiuk, M., Mykhnovych, A. et al. Estimation of spatially distributed soil information: dealing with data shortages in the Western Bug Basin, Ukraine. Environ Earth Sci 65, 1501–1510 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-011-1197-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-011-1197-3