Developments in Digital Soil Morphometrics.

This presentation will focus on instruments and techniques that have been used to measure soil properties in the field as well as in the laboratory, on modelling of soil depth functions, on the mapping of the soil profile (soil profile imaging), and on the use and applications of digital soil morphometrics. There have been considerable advancement in sampling and analysing soil profiles properties in the field. Some tools are restricted to dry soil whereas other are affected by ambient light conditions. The mapping of the soil profile has yielded several methods to derive soil horizons and can deal with the variation within soil horizons. There are a certain number of soil depth functions that can be used for most soil properties and soil types. The use and application of digital soil morphometrics is mostly confined to enhanced pedological insight including soil classification, but with time it can transform the way we observe, analyse and understand soils.