Spatial Analysis of the Distribution of Soil Characteristics on Fadama Land along River Challawa in Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study analyzed the spatial distribution of soil characteristics on Fadama land along River Challawa in Kano
State, Nigeria. Considering the apparent variability of soils at the river bank to support landcover, some six
clusters were chosen for sampling three points per cluster at a single level depth of 15cm. Standard laboratory’s
soil routine analysis was utilized for analyzing selected parameters (pH, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, OC, CEC and
Zn). From the results, the primary nutrients NPK had the mean values as 0.76 g/kg-1, 26.35 g/kg-1 and 0.31 g/kg1
respectively; and secondary nutrients, Ca, Mg and Na were found to have mean values of 4.42cmol/kg-1
,
0.80cmol/kg-1 and 0.30cmol/kg- respectively. Sand, silt and clay particles had the following respective mean
levels of 48.78g/kg-1, 39.11g/kg-1 and 12.11g/kg-1 respectively. Similarly, the values for soil reactions range
from (pH H2O 6.00-6.900 and pH CaCl25.40-5.90). These data were subsequently transformed inGeographic
Information System (GIS) environment using Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation model in the
ArcGIS 10.1 software. The resultsshowed spatial variability in the distributions of soil parameters. While some
parameters such as nitrogen are moderately and adequately distributed, others like potassium were grossly under
represented by a fraction of distribution measure. However, some others such as calcium, magnesium and
sodium were relatively and fairly distributed in the whole study area. This study recommended that farm site
analyses of soil parameters should be periodic rather than on irregular basis.