TY - JOUR AU - Söderström, Mats AU - Isendahl, Christian AU - Eriksson, Jan AU - Araújo, Suzana Romeiro AU - Rebellato, Lilian AU - Schaan, Denise Pahl AU - Stenborg, Per PY - 2013/12/18 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Using proximal soil sensors and fuzzy classification for mapping Amazonian Dark Earths JF - Agricultural and Food Science JA - AFSci VL - 22 IS - 4 SE - Articles DO - 10.23986/afsci.8195 UR - https://journal.fi/afs/article/view/8195 SP - 380-389 AB - <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; line-height: 150%;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">We tested if hand-carried field proximal soil sensing (PSS) can be used to map the distribution of anthropogenic Amazonian Dark Earths (ADE). ADE soils are rich in archaeological artefacts, nutrients, organic matter and carbon in the very stable form of pyrogenic carbon, also</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">referred to as black carbon or biochar. To test the capacity of PSS to detect signature ADE properties we measured electrical conductivity (ECa), magnetic susceptibility (MSa) and gamma ray data by transect sampling and compared these readings, using fuzzy classification, with datasets on chemical soil properties from a 28 ha large study area located on the Belterra Plateau of the Lower Amazon in northern Brazil. Results indicate that ECa and MSa measurements were good indicators of ADE signatures, but that the gamma radiation sensor was less useful in the deeply </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">weathered soils. PSS and fuzzy classification can be used for rapid field mapping of ADE for both agricultural and archaeological purposes.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></p> ER -