Large-Scale Soil Mapping Methodology: Approaches, Challenges, and Prospects

Obtaining accurate and objective information about the soil cover of any territory is the main goal of any soil-geographical research. The review of existing methods has shown that even with more than a hundred years since the times of V.V. Dokuchaev, no fundamentally new approaches to large-scale mapping of soils were developed. The existing approaches are still based on Dokuchaev’s ideas about soil relationships with soil forming factors. Few attempts have been made to increase the information capacity of soil maps by representing soil microheterogeneities, and to add information on current soil processes (dynamics of boundaries and plasticity of relief) to soil maps. All these methods can be used to update the mapping process. It is proposed to supplement methods of traditional mapping by specifying, where possible, the boundaries of soil-geographical units based on remote sensing data, saturating these units with information on soil cover patterns, showing the boundaries of soil cover mesostructures, taking into account the flow structures of relief plasticity, and, if possible, reflecting the long-term dynamics of the boundaries of soil mapping units. Most of the operations to produce such soil maps can now be automated. Such maps will more accurately reflect the real geography of soils and their properties, as well as the processes of soil matter transport under the effect of water flows and gravitational forces, thus significantly enhancing the practical value of soil data.