Analysis of spatial variability of selected soil properties in the hard coal post-mining area

Abstract

The result of geomechanical and hydrological degradation caused by the underground extraction of hard coal are the transformations of the environmentally managed terrains and high variability of soil properties occurring in these areas. The analysis of selected soil properties of spatial variability in the post-mining area conducted by means of the kriging technique was presented in the paper. The determined points of empirical semivariogram were described by means of mathematical functions and theoretical semivariograms were plotted. The conducted analysis allowed to plot the maps of variability isolines, which my provide a basis to delineate the boundaries of areas most susceptible to the hydrological degradation of soils. The obtained research results indicate that the applied kriging technique may prove to be a useful tool for determining spatial variability of soils in the areas of hard coal mining operations and allow to delineate the boundaries of the areas most susceptible to soil degradation.