فریده عباس زاده افشار

Depth to a root restricting (cemented) layer affects both soil moisture and nutrient availability. The knowledge of the variability of cemented layers within the soil profiles provides valuable information to decision-makers for agricultural activities. Soil surveys generally are time consuming, labor-intensive and costly, whereas geophysical and geostatistical methods offer a rapid, inexpensive and non-invasive approach to mapping soil characteristics. The ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical tool that is a high-resolution electromagnetic technique used for many applications, including assessment of groundwater resources, mineral exploration, archaeological, and environmental and agricultural studies. The agricultural applications may include such things as determining limited soil depth restricted by bedrock; hardpan and cemented horizon, water table depth, soil moisture content, and mapping shallow underground soil features affecting agricultural production. GPR combined with the geostatistical method could be an efficient and valid approach to provide large-scale measurements with fine-resolution data of substrate distribution. The objectives of this study are to use GPR data and to explore the capability of geostatistical methods to incorporate these auxiliary variables for mapping cemented horizon in an arid region, Kerman province located in south-eastern Iran. The measurements were performed using an impulse GPR system with a center frequency of 250 MHz along ten parallel transects of 100 m length and 10 m distance between two consecutive transects. The processing of GPR data was performed with ReflexW7.0 Software. The GPR data were interpolated with geostatistical analyses were done by using the software package ISATIS. The results of the field observations on the pedons at study site showed the cemented horizon at a depth of 35-45 cm. The GPR radargram also showed a distinct interface between the two contrasting materials which usually correspon