REVIEW OF DTM DERIVATIVES MOST USED IN DIGITAL SOIL MAPPING

Abstract

Digital Soil Mapping (DSM) is a subdiscipline of pedology, where soil cover is modelled through use of spatial – temporal relations between environmental covariates and soil. The process of quantitative terrain description used in DSM is called terrain parametrization, where terrain attributes (morphometric factors, Digital Terrain Model derivatives) are the most used predicators. Terrain parameterisation was used as a tool in the hydrological survey workshop long before computers had been in use. With the development of digitisation, it also began to be used to determine selected soil attributes, which was greatly facilitated by GIS applications. A significant breakthrough in the importance of terrain attributes in the creation of soil maps and models took place with the formalisation of rules for digital soil mapping. Literature describes over 50 indices, although only a few of them are commonly applied. This applies to single soil attributes as well as more advanced implementations in more sophisticated models such as artificial intelligence algorithms. The aim of the following article is to present the main components of DSM and to describe characteristics of the most commonly derivatives of DTM applied there, also refers to several examples of the use of terrain parameters in the context of DSM in terms of the resolution of the elevation model used.