Dissertations and Theses

DIFFUSE REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY TECHNIQUES OF THE SOILS OF THE WESTERN PAULISTA PLAIN

Author: Fernandes, Kathleen Lourenço

Keywords: pedometry, spectral curve, geostatistics, sandstone, basalt.

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Summary

The Ouest Paulista Plateau (POP) is one of the main areas of citrus cultivation in the country, accounting for about 80% of the national production, with a large share of sugar and alcohol production. The characterization and mineralogical quantification of the soils of this region becomes important for a better understanding of the soil pedogenic processes, and the use of better management practices. Through tools such as geostatistics, it is possible to understand the relationship between soil mineralogy and landscape forms, indicating the spatial variability of the data and the dependence between the pedogenic and geomorphic attributes of the region. Thus, the present work had as objectives: a) to characterize the contents and crystallinity of kaolinite (Kt) and gibbsite (Gb), and its relations with the different geological and geomorphological compartments of POP; B) and to evaluate the potential of different methodologies applied to the spectral curves, given by the diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) technique, to estimate the ratio between Ct and Gb, and to characterize the spatial variability of the ratio for the POP. A total of 600 georeferenced soil samples were collected near the main highways in the state of São Paulo. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique and the Rietveld methodology were used to quantify the Ct and Gb contents and crystallinity. The unconventional quantification by the DRS technique was done by three methodologies applied to the spectral curves: removable continuous, direct ratio of the valley and minimum regression by partial squares. Data were submitted to descriptive statistics analysis, regression analysis (for comparison between the techniques) and geostatistical analysis, by simple kriging. The geological and geomorphological compartments influence the distribution of Kt and Gb contents and their crystallographic formation. Environments of sandstone geology have higher levels of Ct, less crystalline, and environments of basalt greater Gb levels of greater crystallinity. DRS proved to be an efficient technique for the unconventional estimation of minerals, and the methodology of the removable continuum presented the best statistical parameters between the comparison of values given by the XRD and the DRS. The spatial variability of the ratio between Kt and Gb presented similar patterns between the XRD and DRS data maps for both methodologies.