Research group soil spatial inventory techniques-ORBit

ORBit (this acronym stands for “Onderzoeksgroep Ruimtelijke Bodeminventarisatietechnieken”) consists out of an enthusiastic team (Staff) which is responsible for the education, research and services related to the spatial inventory of soil properties in support of strongly differing applications.


Our expertise comprises (see also Services):

• Mobile proximal soil sensor configurations for the investigation in a non-destructive way of soil properties.
• Geophysical prospection techniques for geoarchaeological and environmental applications.
• Geostatistical interpolation and simulation techniques.
• Sampling strategies for the characterization of soil-related properties.
• GIS-techniques for the processing of sensor measurements.

Some applications (see also Research projects):

• Detailed mapping of soil properties, like for precision agriculture both in Belgium as abroad (e.g. in paddy rice fields).
• Non-destructive prospection for geo-archaeological research: archaeology in its landscape context.
• Detection and monitoring of the spatial extend of soil pollution at industrial sites.
• Detection of buried metal objects (such as shells).
• Investigation of soil disturbances for the assessment of soil and land qualities (e.g. for sport or turf terrains, construction sites,…).
• Mapping of paleochannels and paleolandscapes.
• Spatial simulation of complex continuous soil patterns (such as fossil ice wedge casts,…).

Our research finds its output through diverse sources of publications (see Recent publications)


MORE INFO ?
orbit@ugent.be
tel: +32 9 264 60 56