Detection of soil crusting risks related to low soil organic carbon contents by using Discriminant analysis on thematic Mapper data

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Abstract
Numerous studies have shown that organic carbon content influences soil susceptibility to physical degradation. This study aims to test the potential of TM data for operational spatial analysis of soil crusting risks in a loamy context of southwest France. Laboratory experiments are carried out in order to relate organic carbon content of soils to their crusting susceptibility. A threshold value is observed for organic C content. On a systematical grid of sampling, this threshold value is applied to separate plots into 2 groups whose crusting susceptibility are different. On a first set of 43 plots, a discriminant analysis is realized in order to build a model of soil degradation risks prediction by using TM data. This discriminant function is validated on another set of 44 independant plots. A classification of bare soils can therefore be realized and used for mapping soils degradation risks at a regional level.