MAPPING SOIL ORGANIC MATTER CONTENT IN FLOODPLAINS USING A DIGITAL SOIL DATABASE AND GIS TECHNIQUES: A CASE STUDY WITH A TOPOGRAPHIC FACTOR IN NORTHEAST KANSAS

Soil organic matter (SOM) content and other physical soil properties were extracted from a digital soil database, the Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) database, to map the amount of SOM and determine its relationship with topographic positions in floodplain areas along a river basin in Douglas County, Kansas. In the floodplains, results showed that slope and SOM content had a significant negative relationship. Soils near river channels were deep and nearly level, and they had the greatest SOM content in the floodplain areas. For the whole county, SOM content was influenced primarily by soil depth and percent SOM by weight. Among different slope areas, soils on mid-range slopes (10-15%) and ridgetops had the highest SOM content because they had relatively high percent SOM content by weight and very deep soils, respectively. SOM content was also significantly variable among different land cover types. Forest/woodland had significantly higher SOM content than others, followed by cropland, grassland, and urban areas.