Sandy soil map of Australia's agricultural lands

Soil and landscape mapping was collated from Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales, in combination with latest Digital Soil Mapping products for Australia (Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia) as the basis for a new sandy soils map. A staged map compilation process was undertaken to combine all these available datasets into one uniform map that retains integrity of legacy contextual mapping information.The key steps undertaken in the mapping of sandy soils include: 1. Define an agricultural region area of interest for this study; 2. Collate available soil-landscape mapping datasets across Australia (including state and national); 3. Assemble and edit existing mapping to form a new sandy soil map for agricultural regions of the study area; 4. Review and revise this mapping in response to feedback from NCST members including state/territory experts.Maps were revised and updated with input from members of the Digital Soil Assessment Working Group and members of the National Committee on Soil and Terrain. While efforts were made to include these suggestions, it was not possible to refine the map indefinitely, and therefore editing ceased on the 23rd of February 2021. Due to the variations in scale, mapping techniques, representation, and attribution across Australia, the use of these maps for such purposes as mapping sandy soils across southern Australia proved difficult.From the new sandy soils map we were able to identify agricultural areas of sandy soils: (Western Australia - 10.611Mha; South Australia - 2.479Mha; New South Wales - 1.867Mha; Victoria - 0.864Mha and Tasmania - 0.215Mha). Nationally there were 16.039Mha of sandy soil identified which is considerably higher than the 11Mha from previous estimates.This research is funded by the CRC for High Performance Soils and supported by the Cooperative Research Centres program, an Australian Government initiative.Additional funding and in-kind support are provided by: Murdoch University, PIRSA, Federation University Australia, West Midlands Group and AORA. Contributions from Richard Bell, Amanda Schapel and David Davenport have been critical in shaping the logic and key considerations in mapping sandy soils and benefits of amelioration. James Hall is also thanked for providing insights into sandy soils for South Australia and the formation of the new Arenosol soil order for Australia.We would also like to acknowledge the contributions of the Digital Soil Assessment Working Group and members of the National Committee on Soil and Terrain that provided valuable feedback on the approach used to map sandy soils.Administrative and structural details on data files:A shapefile (Sandy_soil_map_aglands.shp) is provided for use in a Geographic Information System (GIS). This should be useable in commercial (e.g. ArcGIS) and open source software packages (e.g. QGIS). The shapefile data coordinate system is WGS1984 geographic.A RTF file is also provided which includes information on the data fields and content of the shapefile for users. Note that abbreviations for the Australian Soil Classification Order and Suborder fields (as 2021) were used.Associated publication:Robinson N, Pope R, Liddicoat C, Holmes K, Griffin E, Kidd D, Jenkins B, Rees D, Searle R. (2021) Sandy Soils: Organic and clay amendments to improve the productivity of sandy soils. Detailed plan for mapping and grouping of sands. Soil CRC Project 3.3.003. Cooperative Research Centre for High Performance Soils.本研究以澳大利亚西澳州、南澳州、维多利亚州及新南威尔士州已有的土壤与景观制图数据，结合澳大利亚最新数字土壤制图（Digital Soil Mapping）产品——澳大利亚土壤与景观网格（Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia），作为新建砂质土壤分布图的基础数据源。本研究采用分阶段制图整合流程，将所有可用数据集整合为统一的标准化分布图，完整保留了原有背景制图数据的信息完整性。 砂质土壤制图的核心流程如下：1. 明确本研究关注的农业研究区域范围；2. 收集整理澳大利亚境内（包含各州及国家级）已有的土壤-景观制图数据集；3. 整合并编辑现有制图数据，为研究区域的农业区域构建全新的砂质土壤分布图；4. 参考包括各州/领地专家在内的土壤与地形国家委员会（National Committee on Soil and Terrain，NCST）成员的反馈意见，对该制图成果进行审核与修订。 本研究依托数字土壤评估工作组（Digital Soil Assessment Working Group）成员与土壤与地形国家委员会成员的意见与建议，对制图成果进行了修订与更新。尽管研究团队尽力吸纳所有相关建议，但无法无限制地对该地图进行优化完善，因此制图编辑工作于2021年2月23日正式终止。 由于澳大利亚境内各制图数据在比例尺、制图技术、表达方式及属性赋值方面存在差异，将此类制图成果用于澳大利亚南部砂质土壤分布制图等相关工作时存在较大难度。 基于新建的砂质土壤分布图，本研究明确了各辖区的砂质土壤农业分布面积：西澳州1061.1万公顷、南澳州247.9万公顷、新南威尔士州186.7万公顷、维多利亚州86.4万公顷以及塔斯马尼亚州21.5万公顷。全国范围内共识别出1603.9万公顷砂质土壤，这一数据远高于此前预估的1100万公顷。 本研究由高性能土壤合作研究中心（CRC for High Performance Soils）资助，并依托澳大利亚政府发起的合作研究中心（Cooperative Research Centres）项目提供支持。 本研究同时获得默多克大学、南澳州第一产业与区域部（PIRSA）、澳大利亚联邦大学、西米德兰兹集团（West Midlands Group）及AORA提供的额外资金与实物支持。 理查德·贝尔、阿曼达·沙佩尔及戴维·达文波特的研究贡献，对于明确砂质土壤制图的逻辑框架与核心考量要素，以及砂质土壤改良的效益分析至关重要。此外，研究团队感谢詹姆斯·霍尔为南澳州砂质土壤研究提供的专业见解，以及其为澳大利亚建立全新的砂质土纲（Arenosol）土壤分类单元所作出的工作。 本研究同时致谢数字土壤评估工作组及土壤与地形国家委员会全体成员，感谢他们为砂质土壤制图方法提供的宝贵反馈意见。 数据文件的管理与结构说明如下：本数据集提供了可用于地理信息系统（Geographic Information System，GIS）的矢量shp文件（Sandy_soil_map_aglands.shp）。该文件可兼容商业GIS软件（如ArcGIS）及开源GIS软件（如QGIS），其坐标系采用WGS1984地理坐标系。 同时还提供了一份RTF格式文件，用于向用户说明该shp文件的数据字段及其内容。需注意，本文件采用了2021版《澳大利亚土壤分类》的土纲与亚纲缩写标识。 关联出版物：Robinson N、Pope R、Liddicoat C、Holmes K、Griffin E、Kidd D、Jenkins B、Rees D、Searle R.（2021）《砂质土壤：通过有机质与黏土改良提升砂质土壤生产力》，《砂质土壤制图与分类详细方案》，土壤合作研究中心项目3.3.003，高性能土壤合作研究中心。