Australian Bare Earth Covariates for Soil and Lithology

A source of bare earth covariates derived from a 30-year Landsat time series to indicate iron oxides, ferrous minerals, quartz/carbonate, and hydroxyl minerals. The data supports soil and lithological modelling across Australia, with layers available at 30 or 90 metre resolution.

Use Cases

• Model soil properties using bare earth covariates like iron oxide indicators derived from Landsat spectral bands.
• Analyze surface geochemistry by applying principal components analysis to the derived bare earth layers.
• Map lithological units across Australia using the targeted mineral indicators (e.g., hydroxyl minerals) from the SWIR1 and SWIR2 wavelength regions.
• Compare land surface composition at different scales using the 30m and 90m resolution mosaic or tile data products.

Strengths

• Derived from a 30-year time-series of Landsat 5, 7, and 8 imagery, providing long-term consistency.
• Uses advanced techniques to reduce vegetation influence, producing bare earth layers for clearer geochemical analysis.
• Covers multiple spectral bands (BLUE, GREEN, RED, NIR, SWIR1, SWIR2) targeting specific mineral groups.

Limitations

• The specific number of data points (rows/pixels) and file sizes are not provided.
• Data is provided in visual formats (PNG, PDF) and HTML, which may require conversion for quantitative geospatial analysis.
• License is listed as 'notspecified', which may create uncertainty for commercial or redistribution use.

Provenance

Source

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network's Data Discovery

Collection Method

Bare earth layers represent the weighted geometric median of pixel values from Landsat imagery converted to at-surface-reflectance, with covariates derived from principal components analysis and band ratios.

Time Range

Based on a 30-year Landsat time series (specific years not stated).

Freshness

Last updated March 2026, indicating recent maintenance.

Geography

Australia