Implementation of soil survey and analyses for promoting watershed modelling applications

Soil is an important component of a watershed. Understanding soils and their interactions with the other components are, thus, considered to be critical and essential for conservation of resources and management of the watershed. Development of soil sampling and analysis programs are crucial for these purposes. Site-specific soil data are needed to identify current soil characteristics, as well as to validate datasets gathered for watershed-scale modelling of non-point sources (NPS) of pollutants arising from various land-use activities, hydrodynamics and water quality. The Koycegiz Lake-Dalyan Lagoon watershed, located in the southwest of Turkey along the Mediterranean Sea Coast, was selected as the study area for watershed modelling purposes. Development of soil sampling plans, their practical optimization, soil analyses and interpretation are presented in this article. The soil analyses conducted include physical, chemical and specific soil characteristics. Within the framework of this study, soil fertility parameters are presented and evaluated. Such an approach used is recommended for especially developing countries where up-to-date data sets are not fully available and/or centrally publicized.