Application of geostatistical methods for the spatial distribution of soils in the irrigated plain of Doukkala, Morocco

In this study conducted in the semi-arid region of the irrigated plain of Doukkala, Morocco, we evaluated the spatial variation in the soil of organic matter (OM), pH of soil, cation exchange capacity (CEC), potassium (K 2 O), soil phosphorus (P 2 O 5 ), clay, sand and silt, this investigation use conventional statistics and a geographical information system (GIS) to create a map of soil redistribution, which included a newly compiled 1:10,000 digital soil map, and using 1865 soil samples (0–20 cm), the produce maps of distribution the variability of soil physico-chemical properties and to provide information which revealed the soil quality functions of the physicochemical characteristics. Coefficient of variation (CV) indicated that OM, P 2 O 5 , K 2 O, CEC, and Silt indicated that high variation (CV > 40%), Moreover, the Coefficient of variation the pH, the our areas value was 9, 91%, which indicated very low variation. The semivariogram model of soil physico-chemical properties [lag distance, rang, nugget (C0), partial sill (C), Sill (C0 + C) and nugget/sill ratio] indicated the diver’s spatial dependency of soil properties (strongly, moderately and weakly). According to spatial variability of parameters was mapped by ordinary kriging using spherical model based on root mean square error and the interpolated methods of inverse distance weighting deterministic. In this work, we find that the kriging ordinary and deterministic methods show almost similar results with a spatial distribution and provide the heterogeneity the distribution map of four area in different soil parameters in the study areas.