APPENDIX 2. Australian Soil Resources Information System
Australian Soil Resources Information System contains:
- A compilation (from data held by Commonwealth, State and Territory agencies) of soil profile data into a single database containing over 160 000 profiles in a standard format (SITES). These data are available from the Audit Data Library, subject to some licence conditions.
- A compilation (from data held by Commonwealth, State and Territory agencies) of soil and land resources maps at varying scales. These data were used in modelling, and descriptions of the data are available from the Audit Atlas and Data Library. The data can be obtained only from the original custodians.
- various ancillary data sets relevant to soils and used in modelling soil properties, including: 9 second DEM and derived terrain attributes, lithology (derived from geological mapping), climate surfaces, and Landsat MSS.
- a set of spatially distributed estimates of soil attributes and their data quality, in the form of gridded (raster) maps of soil properties for topsoil and subsoil. These maps were produced from collated data sets using several different modelling methods (below).
Soil attributes estimated are those most commonly required to characterise, model or predict land resource processes that drive plant productivity, measure resource sustainability or control rate of resource degradation.
The Australian Soil Resources Information System contains 27 soil attributes (see table below) for topsoil and (in some cases) the first subsoil layer. A full description of the methods and uncertainties involved (including distribution of points for modelling) is contained in the Australian Natural Resources Atlas.
The scale of the various soil maps used in deriving this map is shown in Figure A2. The distribution of point data used to construct point model maps used is shown in Figure A3.
Table A1 Australian Soil Resources Information System soil property data layers
Australia-wide
| Map availability | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Units | Topsoil (layer 1) | First Subsoil (layer 2) | |
| River basins containing intensive agriculture | |||
| Point models | |||
| pH | pH scale 1 to 14 |  |
|
| Organic carbon | % | |
|
| Total phosphorus | % | |
|
| Extractable phosphorus (New South Wales and Victoria) | % | |
|
| Total nitrogen (derived from carbon - nitrogen relationship) | % | |
|
| Texture | texture class | |
|
| Clay % (includes polygon model surface) | % fine earth fraction | |
|
| Polygon models | |||
| Clay % | % fine earth fraction | |
|
| Silt % | % fine earth fraction | |
|
| Sand % | % fine earth fraction | |
|
| Thickness | metre | |
|
| Solum depth | metre | |
|
| Bulk density | g/cm3 | |
|
| Available water | mm | |
|
| Saturated hydraulic conductivity | mm/hr | |
|
| Point-polygon models | |||
| Erodibility- pedotransfer, point & polygon model | t ha h / ha MJ mm | |
|
REFERENCES
Hillel D. 1980, Applications of Soil Physics, Orlando, Florida, USA, Academic Press.
Lee K.E. 1985, Earthworms. Their ecology and relationships with soils and land use, Academic Press.
McKenzie N.J., Jacquier D.W., Ashton L.J. & Cresswell H.P. 2000, Estimation of soil properties using the Atlas of Australian Soils, CSIRO Land and Water Technical Report 11/00.
Rosewell C.J. 1997, Potential Sources of Sediments and Nutrients: Sheet and Rill Erosion and Phosphorus Sources, Canberra: Australia State of the Environment Technical Paper Series, Department of the Environment Sport and Territories.
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