Description: This layer represents the Soil Monitoring sites in Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Soil Monitoring is conducted in various land use categories like residential areas, industrial areas, farms etc.
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency- Abu Dhabi
Description: The UAESIS survey produced besides soil mapping and classification an evaluation of the soil’s suitability for development of irrigated agriculture.The evaluation used follows the land suitability classification concepts developed by the FAO in its Framework for Land Evaluation (FAO 1976). The FAO system is generally considered as a benchmark for land evaluation. The FAO system has been used as the basis for specific land evaluation applications such as irrigated agriculture (FAO 1985).The soil characteristics associated with the various ratings can be summarized as follows:- S1 - land that is highly suitable for irrigated agriculture. The soil is capable of producing sustained high yields for a wide variety of climatically adapted crops. The soils are nearly level and well drained. They are deep, fine sandy textured or finer, single grained thereby allowing for easy root penetration and retention of abundant air and water in the root zone. The soils have low soluble salts, sodicity, gypsum content, calcium carbonate content and a neutral pH. Soils selected in this category in Abu Dhabi are lighter textured and contain more gravel and carbonate than might be considered highly suitable in other locations, however these criteria are appropriate for the range of soils available in the Emirate.- S2 - land of moderate suitability for irrigated agriculture. The soils are inherently lower in productive capacity than soils ranked S1. Soil and land qualities may impose restrictions on irrigation; however these restrictions may be relatively easily corrected or compensated for. S2 soils in Abu Dhabi have sandy texture, and are single grain or massive. They are deep and somewhat excessively or well drained. The soils are typically very slightly saline, non-sodic, have low gypsum content, and can have a hummocky microrelief. These moderate restrictions may be overcome with appropriate management strategies.- S3 - land of marginal suitability for irrigated agriculture. The productive capacity of S3 is less than S1 and S2 soils. The soils have severe limitations that may be corrected with appropriate management strategies. S3 soils in Abu Dhabi are moderately deep with a hard pan or water table occurring within 100-150 cm of the soil surface. They have sand to sandy loam textures and are single-grained or massive. They are typically slightly saline to saline and have moderate gypsum contents. These soils may have moderately steep gradient (up to 32%) with moderately high relief (up to 9 meters). - N1 - land that is currently unsuitable for irrigated agriculture. Such soils in Abu Dhabi typically have shallow rooting depths with hardpans within 50 – 100 cm of the soil surface, high gypsum content close to the surface, are saline or have high relief (up to 30 m) and steep gradient (up to 56%).- N2 - land considered to be permanently unsuitable for irrigated agriculture. This category includes soils which are very shallow, occur with rock outcrops, on very steeply sloping land (over 56%), having very high relief (over 30 m), are very poorly drained and strongly saline or have shallow depth to gypsum. Under conventional economic conditions these soils do not warrant further investigation for irrigation purposes.Field Description:- OBJECTID: A unique, not null integer field used to uniquely identify rows in tables in a geodatabase- Shape: Field which shows the stored geometry type created through ArcGIS (Point, Line, Polygon, Multipoint or Multipatch)- Suitability: Soil Irrigation Suitability Rating- Restriction1: Primary Restriction- Shape_Length: Represents the total length of a polygon's perimeter, in the units used by the feature class' coordinate system- Shape_Area: Represents the total area of a polygon, in square units of the linear distance unit used by the feature class' coordinate system- RuleID: Needed for labeling purposes in represantations- Override: A BLOB field that stores feature-specific override to the representation rules- RuleID_1: Needed for labeling purposes in represantations- Override_1: A BLOB field that stores feature-specific override to the representation rulesProcessing Steps(DCI 2017/18): Each of the Soil Classes (subgroup and phase level) of the EAD Well Inventory and Soil Salinity Mapping Project were assigned an Irrigation Suitability and the corresponding restrictions as described above. Classes with the same Suitability and Primary Restriction were merged.Data Quality: Data was QS controlled
Description: This layer representing the Soil Salinity from 0 to 50 cm is a derived dataset from the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey Project 2009.
Evaluation of salinity in the first and second 50cm of the soil horizon respectively was based on electrical conductivity of the soil. Electrical conductivity is a measure of the concentration of water-soluble salts in soils. It is used to indicate the soil salinity level. High concentrations of neutral salts, such as sodium chloride and sodium sulfate, may interfere with the absorption of water by plants because the osmotic pressure in the soil solution is nearly as high as or higher than that in the plant cells. Salts may also interfere with the exchange capacity of nutrient ions, thereby resulting in nutritional deficiencies in plants. The EC values measured by soil surveyors (EC 1:1) at each soil horizon at each field site were used to calculate an average EC value (weighted for horizon thickness) for the first two 50cm layers of soil at each site. That EC value was converted to ECe by multiplying by a factor of 3. These values were used to find the median ECe value for the 0-50cm layer and 50-100cm layer for each soil component.
Use limitations
The data must be used appropriately for the scale of mapping. Prior to decisions about land use more detailed site inspection is likely to be required to develop detailed understanding of soil and site characteristics related to the planned use.
Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project 2009. Data Origin:EAD.
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Description: This layer representing the Soil Water Table is a derived dataset from the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey Project 2009.
Evaluation for water table depth evaluates the depth from the soil surface to the soil water table (defined as ‘free-standing water in an open bore-hole or well at the time of observation’). The water table provides information about a significant unfavorable plant root environment and physically limits downward plant root growth. The information can also be used in models for soil hydrology, water budgeting, leaching and nutrient/pesticide loading. In this survey, this interpretation identified the location and depth to the saturated soil layer. Generally the occurrence of shallow water tables was closely correlated with the distribution of the saline soils and with the Aquisalids in particular. The management of shallow water tables is a difficult problem for low input systems, particularly where the water table is highly saline as occurs predominantly in Abu Dhabi.
Use limitations
The data must be used appropriately for the scale of mapping. Prior to decisions about land use more detailed site inspection is likely to be required to develop detailed understanding of soil and site characteristics related to the planned use.
Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Description: This layer representing the Land Degradation is a derived dataset from the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey Project 2009.
The soil interpretation for ‘Land Degradation’ evaluates the soil factors that imply the presence of a soil condition that may be limiting to plant growth. Categorizing land degradation in a highly eroded and eroding desert environment is problematic. Thus the evaluation presented here has been developed through a consultative process to obtain a consensus of important factors in this environment. The evaluation deviates from conventional assessments of land degradation that usually consider either the soil’s risk (vulnerability) to erosion and degradation under a given set of circumstances (e.g. irrigated agriculture), or the level of degradation that has occurred as a result of human intervention. In this case the evaluation accounts for long-term natural factors that have led to the land being in a relatively degraded state. Thus a saline soil is considered to be degraded even though this may now be considered its natural condition. Similarly a surface lag of gravels is evidence that erosion has happened in the past. The soils may now be stabilized by this surface cover and erosion may no longer occur though the current evaluation would show them as being degraded. In contrast the dune systems that are by definition evidence of soil particle mobility are evaluated as having no degradation. The ratings are for soils in their natural condition; however they also take present land use into consideration by considering land under forestry or agriculture as being protected and so not degraded.
Use limitations
The data must be used appropriately for the scale of mapping. Prior to decisions about land use more detailed site inspection is likely to be required to develop detailed understanding of soil and site characteristics related to the planned use.
Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Description: This layer representing the Rangeland Suitability is a derived dataset from the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey Project 2009.
Soil interpretation for Rangeland evaluates the soils suitability for development of rangeland in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Interpretations used the process dominant component by percent. Criteria used were: Vegetation cover (%), existing degraded areas (based on the Land Degradation thematic map); and current land use (based on the land use map).
Use limitations
The data must be used appropriately for the scale of mapping. Prior to decisions about land use more detailed site inspection is likely to be required to developed detailed understanding of soil and site characteristics related to the planned use.
Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Description: This layer representing the Sources for Gravels is a derived dataset from the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey Project 2009.
Gravel is used in great quantities in many kinds of construction. The intent of this assessment is to show only the probability of finding material in any given map unit. The suitability of the gravel for specific purposes is not evaluated because quality depends on how the source material is to be used and requires a level of detail beyond the scope of 1:100,000 scale mapping. The gravel may occur naturally in appropriate fragment sizes, or may be produced by crushing rock.The map illustrates the distribution of gravel sources within Abu Dhabi.
Use limitations
The data must be used appropriately for the scale of mapping. Prior to decisions about land use more detailed site inspection is likely to be required to develop detailed understanding of soil and site characteristics related to the planned use.
Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Description: This layer representing the Sources for Sand is a derived dataset from the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey Project 2009.
Soil interpretation for sand source evaluates the proportion of soils in each map unit that meet the criteria for being a ‘sand source’. Present land use is not considered in the ratings. The intent of this assessment is to show only the probability of finding high quality material in suitable quantities. While there appears to be widespread distribution of suitable sand sources in the Emirate, it should be recognized that very generic criteria have been used to categorize these sources.
Use limitations
The data must be used appropriately for the scale of mapping. Prior to decisions about land use more detailed site inspection is likely to be required to develop detailed understanding of soil and site characteristics related to the planned use.
Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Description: This layer representing the Carbonates Resources is a derived dataset from the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey Project 2009.
The distribution of carbonates is shown in the map. High levels of carbonate are generally confined to south-eastern areas of the Emirate. The interpretation for ‘Carbonate Source’ evaluates the probability of finding soil containing calcium carbonate. The ratings are for soils in their natural condition. Present land use is not considered. Calcium carbonate is mainly used in the construction industry. The assessment for carbonate source was based on the presence/absence method. The presence of carbonate in soil components of map units was based on their taxonomic classification.
Use limitations
The data must be used appropriately for the scale of mapping. Prior to decisions about land use more detailed site inspection is likely to be required to develop detailed understanding of soil and site characteristics related to the planned use.
Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Description: This layer representing the Gypsum Resources is a derived dataset from the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey Project 2009.
Soil interpretation for gypsum sources evaluates the proportion of soils within a map unit that are identified as containing gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O). The ratings are for soils in their natural condition. Present land use is not considered in the ratings. The map shows shows the estimated distribution of gypsum sources within Abu Dhabi. While gypsum is a common and widespread feature of soils around the Emirate it frequently occurs in relatively low amounts or as relatively thin beds. The map shows that the most likely areas in which gypsum may be found in greatest quantities.
Use limitations
The data must be used appropriately for the scale of mapping. Prior to decisions about land use more detailed site inspection is likely to be required to develop detailed understanding of soil and site characteristics related to the planned use.
Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.