LANDFORM CURVATURE AND ITS EFFECT ON THE SPATIAL VARIABILITY OF SOIL ATTRIBUTES, PINHEIRAL-RJ/BR

Abstract

Understanding the spatial variability of soil chemical and physical attributes is important for improving management practices and soil conservation. In turn, the spatial variability of soil properties results from variation in morphological relief characteristics. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of landform curvature on the spatial variability of soil chemical and physical attributes in the Mar de Morros region (Pinheiral-Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil). Two adjacent landforms were selected with convex and concave curvature and sampled in a regularly spaced grid of 10 meters. A total of 56 soil samples (0-5 cm depth) from the two landforms were collected and analyzed for physical and chemical attributes. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and geostatistics. All chemical attributes showed random patterns of spatial variability in both landforms. The concave landform had higher values of pH and potassium and lower values of aluminum than the convex landform. In contrast, silt content showed spatial dependence in both the concave and convex landforms. Bulk density and clay showed spatial dependence in the convex landform. Bulk density and silt content increased from the shoulder to the footslope of both landforms. The results show that, for this study area, landform curvature has more influence on the spatial dependence of soil physical attributes than of soil chemical properties.