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