ABSTRACT:
Claypans restrict infiltration, influence the lateral movement of soil water and agrichemicals, and limit crop production. In many areas of the Midwest, quantification and mapping of the variations in the depth to claypans are important components for research on water-quality and crop production. In an area of Mexico soils in central Missouri, a high correlation between the observed depth to claypans and the response of the EM38 meter was observed. Equations were developed to infer depths and chart the topography of the claypan. Compared with traditional methods of observing this subsurface layer, EM techniques are noninvasive, Less Labor intensive, more economical and can produce Large quantities of data in a relatively short period of time.
Footnotes
J.A. Doolittle is a soil specialist with the USDA; Soil Conservation Service, Chester, Pennsylvania, 19013; K. A. Sudduth is an agricultural engineer with the Cropping Systems & Water Quality Research Unit, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Columbia, MO, 65211; N.R. Kitchen is a research assistant professor with the School of Natural Resources, Univevsity of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, 65211; and S.J. Indorante is a soil survey project leader with the USDA-Soil Conservation Service, MLRA Soil Survey Ofice, Belleville, Illinois, 62220.
- Copyright 1994 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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