Geophysical‐Based Modeling of a Kettle Hole Catchment of the Morainic Soil Landscape

Abstract

Soilscapes of the post‐glacial morainic regions of the youngest glaciation are characterized by small hydrological kettle hole catchments forming hummocky soil landscapes. The spatial heterogeneity of subsurface structures as well as erosion‐controlled pedogenesis under arable land use may complicate hydrological modeling. Our aim was to generate a soil landscape model for a small representative kettle hole catchment based on geoelectrical exploration and soil profile information. For a 1‐ha catchment located in the northeastern German lowlands near the town of Prenzlau, electrical resistivity transects were determined by a multi electrode system (IMPETUS 12 Fs) and electrical conductivity (ECa) was mapped by using the electromagnetic induction (EMI) device EM38DD in both the vertical and horizontal modes. The 1‐m digital elevation model (DEM) was obtained by kriging from high resolution manual elevation data determined with a leveling device (ZEISS Ni 40). Soil profile data from 26 boreholes distributed radially around the central pond were used to identify boundaries between soil horizons. The soil is characterized by varying topography and morphology of diagnostic horizons such as M‐ (colluvium), Bt‐ (clay illuviation), and C‐ (parent glacial till). By EMI mapping we identified (i) the boundary between erosive and colluvial areas around the kettle hole, and modeled (ii) the subsurface morphology of loamy horizons. Electrical resistivity tomography results coincide with these findings and allow for distinguishing between sandy and loamy dominated areas both in vertical and horizontal direction, respectively. This soil model of soil textural properties could be used for hydrological modeling.

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Towards mapping soil carbon landscapes: Issues of sampling scale and transferability

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