Spatial assessment of soil properties for agricultural land using remotely sensed imagery, relief analysis and GIS

This paper presents a methodological framework and has applications in sustainable land use planning and the management of agroecosystems. On examples of a mountain range in Germany airborne remote sensing and digital relief analysis have been used to improve the inventory of soil heterogeneity and to asses its impact on crop growth. A bioindicative model concept has been developed, based on cause and effect relations of soil-plant system. Soil pattern has been described using remote sensing detection and developed bioindicative transfer functions. The detected landscape pattern has been analysed using digital relief analysis to derive local principles of soil occurrence