2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Document Type

Student Presentation

Presentation Date

4-19-2024

Faculty Sponsor

Dr. David Huber and Dr. Jen Pierce

Abstract

This project aims to create a map of soil depth in the Magic Valley area. Soil depth is a crucial variable in estimating soil carbon storage. Surveying the entire valley in person would be expensive and inefficient. This study aims to generate a usable data product using preexisting and publicly available data without the need for a field survey. The Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) hosts well drilling logs for every groundwater well in Idaho. The drilling logs contain lithologic data including soil depth. We have begun research to estimate soil depth by downloading and extracting soil depth point data from well log documents. Currently we have manually pulled data from ~3,000 out of the 8,002 total well sites in our study area. This project aims to finish the data entry process and create a usable map product through geospatial interpolation. Additionally I will assess the quality of the data we are collecting to address the benefits and drawbacks of using public data.

Comments

This poster is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Critical Zone Collaborative Network, Dryland Thematic Cluster, Grant Award # 2012475.

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