The HWSD soil texture dataset of the Qinghai Lake Basin (2009)- A Big Earth Data Platform for Three Poles

The dataset is the HWSD soil texture dataset of the Qinghai Lake Basin. The data comes from the Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD) constructed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Vienna International Institute for Applied Systems (IIASA). Version 1.1 was released on March 26, The data resolution is 1km. The soil classification system used is mainly FAO-90.

The main fields of the soil attribute table include:

SU_SYM90 (soil name in FAO90 soil classification system)

SU_SYM85 (FAO85 classification)

T_TEXTURE (top soil texture)

DRAINAGE (19.5);

ROOTS: String (depth classification of obstacles to the bottom of the soil);

SWR: String (soil moisture characteristics);

ADD_PROP: Real (a specific soil type related to agricultural use in the soil unit);

T_GRAVEL: Real (gravel volume percentage); T_SAND: Real (sand content);

T_SILT: Real (silt content);

T_CLAY: Real (clay content);

T_USDA_TEX: Real (USDA soil texture classification);

T_REF_BULK: Real (soil bulk density);

T_OC: Real (organic carbon content);

T_PH_H2O: Real (pH)

T_CEC_CLAY: Real (cation exchange capacity of cohesive layer soil);

T_CEC_SOIL: Real (cation exchange capacity of soil)

T_BS: Real (basic saturation);

T_TEB: Real (exchangeable base);

T_CACO3: Real (carbonate or lime content)

T_CASO4: Real (sulfate content);

T_ESP: Real (exchangeable sodium salt);

T_ECE: Real (conductivity).

The attribute field beginning with T_ indicates the upper soil attribute (0-30cm), and the attribute field beginning with S_ indicates the lower soil attribute (30-100cm) (FAO 2009).

The data can provide model input parameters for modelers of the Earth system, and the agricultural perspective can be used to study eco-agricultural zoning, food security, and climate change.

File naming and required software

File name: QhaiLake_HWSD.img
Data reading method: Data can be opened and viewed by software like ArcGIS, ENVI, etc.

Data Citations Data citation guideline What's data citation?

Cite as:

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations（FAO）. (2014). The HWSD soil texture dataset of the Qinghai Lake Basin (2009). A Big Earth Data Platform for Three Poles, (Download the reference： RIS | Bibtex )

Related Literatures:

1. Fischer, G., Nachtergaele, F., Prieler, S., van Velthuizen, H.T., Verelst, L., & Wiberg, D. (2008). Global Agro-ecological Zones Assessment for Agriculture (GAEZ 2008). IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria and FAO, Rome, Italy.( View Details | Bibtex)

Using this data, the data citation is required to be referenced and the related literatures are suggested to be cited.

Copyright & License

To respect the intellectual property rights, protect the rights of data authors, expand services of the data center, and evaluate the application potential of data, data users should clearly indicate the source of the data and the author of the data in the research results generated by using the data (including published papers, articles, data products, and unpublished research reports, data products and other results). For re-posting (second or multiple releases) data, the author must also indicate the source of the original data.

License： This work is licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)