The elucidation of soil pattern in the Wyre Forest of the West Midlands, England. II. Spatial distribution

The spatial distribution of soil in the Wyre Forest of England was analysed in two phases. In the first the soil was examined at sites chosen using a five-stage nested design with spacings increasing geometrically from 6 m to 600 m. Some 80% of the variance was contributed by components for the spacings between 6 m and 60 m. Measurements were then made on transects at 5 m intervals and semi-variograms estimated to 70 m. Except for those of pH the semi-variograms of the soil properties had the same general transitive form and a common effective range of about 40 m. This short range meant that very intensive sampling, approximately one point per 400 m², is needed to map the soil variation. A survey was made of a small portion of the forest on a 20m × 25 m grid to test the inference. Maps of clay and sand content were made successfully by kriging from the data. The mutual correlations between soil properties and the common range of their semi-variograms enabled a general purpose and spatially coherent soil classification to be created from the data. Its mapping confirmed the intricacy of the soil pattern in the Forest.