The effect of short-range spatial variability on soil sampling uncertainty.
This paper aims to quantify the soil sampling uncertainty arising from the short-range spatial variability of elemental concentrations in the topsoils of agricultural, semi-natural, and contaminated environments. For the agricultural site, the relative standard sampling uncertainty ranges between 1% and 5.5%. For the semi-natural area, the sampling uncertainties are 2-4 times larger than in the agricultural area. The contaminated site exhibited significant short-range spatial variability in elemental composition, which resulted in sampling uncertainties of 20-30%.
Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands. m.vanderperk@geo.uu.nl
Marcel
M
Van der Perk
Paolo
P
de Zorzi
Sabrina
S
Barbizzi
Maria
M
Belli
Ales
A
Fajgelj
Umberto
U
Sansone
Zvonka
Z
Jeran
Radojko
R
Jaćimović
D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D007558:Italy; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018401:Sample Size; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods
D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive