Application of cluster and discriminant analyses to diagnose lithological heterogeneity of the parent material according to its particle-size distribution

• Published in: Eurasian soil science 2017-08, Vol.50 (8), p.917-924
• Main Authors: Giniyatullin, K. G., Valeeva, A. A., Smirnova, E. V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Alluvial deposits; Botanical gardens; Classification; Classification (sedimentation); Cluster analysis; Clusters; Data processing; Discriminant analysis; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Educational institutions; Forest soils; Genesis and Geography of Soils; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Heterogeneity; Lithology; Parents & parenting; Particle size; Particle size distribution; Podzolic soils; Profiles; Ratios; Sediment; Sediments; Sediments (Geology); Silt; Size distribution; Soil; Soil horizons; Soils; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods; Territory
• ISSN: 1064-2293; 1556-195X
• DOI: 10.1134/S106422931708004X

Particle-size distribution in soddy-podzolic and light gray forest soils of the Botanical Garden of Kazan Federal University has been studied. The cluster analysis of data on the samples from genetic soil horizons attests to the lithological heterogeneity of the profiles of all the studied soils. It is probable that they are developed from the two-layered sediments with the upper colluvial layer underlain by the alluvial layer. According to the discriminant analysis, the major contribution to the discrimination of colluvial and alluvial layers is that of the fraction >0.25 mm. The results of canonical analysis show that there is only one significant discriminant function that separates alluvial and colluvial sediments on the investigated territory. The discriminant function correlates with the contents of fractions 0.05–0.01, 0.25–0.05, and >0.25 mm. Classification functions making it possible to distinguish between alluvial and colluvial sediments have been calculated. Statistical assessment of particle-size distribution data obtained for the plow horizons on ten plowed fields within the garden indicates that this horizon is formed from colluvial sediments. We conclude that the contents of separate fractions and their ratios cannot be used as a universal criterion of the lithological heterogeneity. However, adequate combination of the cluster and discriminant analyses makes it possible to give a comprehensive assessment of the lithology of soil samples from data on the contents of sand and silt fractions, which considerably increases the information value and reliability of the results.