Spatial Variability of SoU Engineering Properties at UTP Campus

Soil engineering properties spatial characterization are important for several form of
analysis such as to determine the optimum size of spatial grids for distributed
parameter hydrological models, estimating point or spatially averaged values of soil
properties using kriging technique, and also in designing sampling networks and
improving their efficiency. The primary objectives of this study are to characterize
spatial structure of soil properties under tropical climate in terms of semivariogram
parameters, to map the variation in soil properties in Universiti Teknologi Petronas,
and to evaluate the effect of land use changes on the variability of soil properties.
Laboratory analysis was done on two samples from each location. For each soil
sample, five soil engineering properties are determined in the laboratory: bulk
density, moisture content, specific gravity, particle size distribution, and the organic
content. The results of the laboratory tests on soil engineering properties were
subjected to two types of analysis: normal statistical and geostatistical analysis. All
of the soil properties in the study area have a moderate spatial dependency since the
ratio is within 25% and 75% but fine content has the lowest ratio which is 3.48%.
Large spatial variability of moisture content was found exist in the study area and the
degree of variability was heterogeneous among different soil properties. These
various degrees of heterogeneity observed between different soil properties
examined clearly indicate the highly complex and variable nature of tropical soils
within a relatively small area. The variation in soil properties in the study area is
produced in the form of maps, and the effect of land use changes on the variability of
soil properties is evaluated. Land disturbances, forest clearance and topographic
conditions all contributed to the variability of soil properties.