Assessment of Spatial Variability Patterns of Soil Properties by using Geostatistical Methods

Defining spatial variability patterns of natural recourses including soil is important for sustainable use and management of these resources. the objective of this study was to define spatial variability patterns of soil characteristics and map the soils in “the çamgazi land consolidation and tigh (developing services in-field) project” area which covers 19 villages of the center town of adıyaman. spatial distribution patterns of particle size distribution (sand, silt and clay), saturation percentage, soil reaction (ph), soluble salts, electrical conductivity, caco3 content, exchangeable ca+mg and na, and b contents were analyzed using geostatistical methods. sand, silt, exchangeable ca+mg and na were defined with isotropic linear models, but saturation percentage, ph, ec, caco3, clay and b with isotropic power functions. spatial dependency of the measured soil properties determined using the coefficient of variation (cv), variogram analysis and moran’s i statistics.spatial dependency of saturation, salt, lime, clay and b were found moderate and strong. block kriging analysis was performed successfully for estimating values at un-sampled areas and finally mapped for producing spatial variability patterns of soil properties. results indicated that most of the measured soil characteristics showed moderate and strong spatial dependency. it may be possible to develop more effective management strategies for the study area by considering the spatial distribution patterns of measured soil properties.