Environmental Variables Determining Soil Physical Properties and Carbon Content at the Catchment Scale, Stung Chrey Bak Observatory, Cambodia
    1. Research and Innovation Center, Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Russian Federation Blvd., P.O. Box 86, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Received: September 17,2024 / Revised: December 04,2024 / / Accepted: December 24,2024 / Available online: December 31,2025

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 Land cover changes are a prominent driver of environmental changes, impacting various ecosystem components, including soil properties and the dynamics of natural resources, such as the soil particle sizes and the organic carbon stock. The aim of this research study was to define the influence of environmental factors on a set of soil physical and chemical properties (pH, electrical conductivity, bulk density, soil texture, and nitrogen and soil carbon contents) in Stung Chrey Bak catchment. A total of 135 soil samples at 0-10 cm depths were collected all over the catchment from four dominant land cover types (i.e., dense forest, clear forest, brushwood, and rice field) in 1952 and 1981. All these data were mapped by combining spatial data on land cover types and for a visualization of soil properties at the catchment scale. For the mapping of soil properties, we used an interpolation map (IDW) with Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS 3.22). The distribution of the particle sizes was mostly impacted by the topography rather than the land uses. On average, the soil pH values were higher in rice fields than in forested soil, while low salinity could be measured in the four land use types. The carbon content was higher in the dense forest soil than in the other land use types. The bulk density of the dense forests was 1.28g cm-3, while it reached 1.68g cm-3 on average in the other land use type. This shows that deforestation in the upland leads to soil compaction and a significant loss of soil C.