Australian Soil Bulk Density Maps at Six Depths, 90-Meter Resolution

18 gridded maps model the bulk density of Australian soils at six standard depths from 0-5 cm to 100-200 cm. The Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia produced this release, which supersedes a previous version. The raster data has a spatial resolution of 3 arc seconds, approximately 90 by 90 meters.

Use Cases

• Model soil carbon storage potential based on bulk density estimates.
• Assess land suitability for agriculture based on soil compaction data.
• Integrate into hydrological models using soil porosity inferred from bulk density.
• Monitor long-term soil health trends using data covering approximately 1950 to 2021.

Strengths

• Provides 18 distinct map layers, including upper and lower confidence limits for six depth intervals.
• Adheres to the GlobalSoilMap.net specifications, ensuring international comparability.
• Offers high-resolution national coverage at approximately 90-meter pixel resolution.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network's Data Discovery

Collection Method

Modelled estimate of spatial distribution.

Time Range

1950-2021 (approximately)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-10 20:29:56.361870; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australia