Soil Physicochemical Properties Resulting from Spatial Grid Sampling in Waste Deposits Generated by Alluvial Gold Mining in Colombia

To support farmer’s decision making regarding soil management, the main objective of this study is to understand the patterns of spatial variability of the soil properties of the deposit areas that might affect plant growth and crop productivity. For this purpose, soil samples were taken from 310 locations distributed in four reclamation areas of 50 ha each established in 2014, 2010, 2006 and 2002 in El Bagre, Antioquia.

Purpose: Data were used to estimate maps of the soil properties through spatial interpolation with ordinary kriging. Spatial principal component analysis and fuzzy cluster classification were performed to delineate the homogeneous zones.