Estimation of the Effect of Soil Texture on Nitrate-Nitrogen Content in Groundwater Using Optical Remote Sensing

Yongyoot Witheetrirong, Nitin Kumar Tripathi, Taravudh Tipdecho and Preeda Parkpian
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Yongyoot Witheetrirong: Remote Sensing and GIS Field of Study, School of Engineering and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Nitin Kumar Tripathi: Remote Sensing and GIS Field of Study, School of Engineering and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Taravudh Tipdecho: Remote Sensing and GIS Field of Study, School of Engineering and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Preeda Parkpian: Environmental Engineering and Management, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand

IJERPH, 2011, vol. 8, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: The use of chemical fertilizers in Thailand increased exponentially by more than 100-fold from 1961 to 2004. Intensification of agricultural production causes several potential risks to water supplies, especially nitrate-nitrogen (NO 3 − -N) pollution. Nitrate is considered a potential pollutant because its excess application can move into streams by runoff and into groundwater by leaching. The nitrate concentration in groundwater increases more than 3-fold times after fertilization and it contaminates groundwater as a result of the application of excess fertilizers for a long time. Soil texture refers to the relative proportion of particles of various sizes in a given soil and it affects the water permeability or percolation rate of a soil. Coarser soils have less retention than finer soils, which in the case of NO 3 − -N allows it to leach into groundwater faster, so there is positive relationship between the percentage of sands and NO 3 − -N concentration in groundwater wells. This study aimed to estimate the effect of soil texture on NO 3 − -N content in groundwater. Optical reflectance data obtained by remote sensing was used in this study. Our hypothesis was that the quantity of nitrogen leached into groundwater through loam was higher than through clay. Nakhon Pathom province, Thailand, was selected as a study area where the terrain is mostly represented by a flat topography. It was found that classified LANDSAT images delineated paddy fields as covering 29.4% of the study area, while sugarcane covered 10.4%, and 60.2% was represented by “others”. The reason for this classified landuse was to determine additional factors, such as vegetation, which might directly affect the quantity of NO 3 − -N in soil. Ideally, bare soil would be used as a test site, but in fact, no such places were available in Thailand. This led to an indirect method to estimate NO 3 − -N on various soil textures. Through experimentation, it was found that NO 3 − -N measured through the loam in sugarcane (I = 0.0054, p 3 − -N found in clay than loam in this study. This case might be an exceptional study in terms of quantity of fertilizers applied to agricultural fields.

Keywords: groundwater; spatial autocorrelation; soil texture; Geographic Information Systems (GIS); nitrates; remote sensing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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