Soils - Overview - QLD

Queensland Land Resources

Land resource information in Queensland

Land resource information in Queensland is the responsibility of the Department of Natural Resources and Mines which is also the custodian of information collected by preceding State based organisations. A much smaller amount of information is collected and managed by other state agencies and private firms and individuals. There is also a significant amount of information held by CSIRO some of which was collected in collaborative arrangements with the state agency.

Coverage

Land resource assessment has been continuously occurring in Queensland since the 1950s albeit within different groups and without a coordinated approach. To address this lack of coordination and to meet the identified needs of the major stakeholder groups, a set of goals for land resource assessment for the state was established in the early 1990s. This is summarised in Figure 1. There was no systematic funding to address these goals; instead the goals have served to guide the priorities of a number of externally funded projects which have included land resource assessment as one of a range of means of meeting project outcomes. A number of significant Departmental changes since that time has resulted in changes to and fragmentation of the group responsible for land resource assessment and these goals and the process to achieve them is currently being reassessed.

Goals for land resource assessment in Queensland identified in the 1993 Business Plan

There are two broad categories of land resource mapping in Queensland. Land systems are repeating patterns of soils, vegetation, geology and geomorphology. Scales are usually broad (1:250,000 to 1:500,000) and the polygons large. Associated attributes include broad statements of dominant soils or vegetations, land condition and potential and land capability. The second category is soils mapping where soil type or soil association is the dominant mapped entity. Scale of mapping ranges from 1:25,000 to 1:250,000 depending on the dominant land uses. Associated attributes include soil types and proportions, land qualities and land suitability (a five class system which rates the suitability of the polygon for a range of defined land uses).

Most of the state (especially the drier areas) is covered by land system mapping conducted by either the state agency or CSIRO. This mapping has been digitally captured but a significant investment is required to create a seamless coverage with consistent attributes. The coverage of soils mapping is less comprehensive (Figure 2). There are significant gaps particularly in the broad scale grain growing areas. Most of the intensively used lands of the east of the state has detailed soils mapping and most of the remaining gaps are currently being covered. There are areas in the south-east of the state which require more intensive mapping and are not currently programmed.

The extent of coverage of land systems and soils mapping in Queensland

Data systems

Queensland land resource information is stored in the SALI system. SALI is comprised of a series of inter-related modules catering for specific components within land resource surveys, including site data, polygonal data, analytical data and soil profile class (SPC) data. It provides the ability to rapidly enter, validate, manage and retrieve coded and textual data. SALI uses principles and parameters established in its precursor (WARIS - Rosenthal et al. 1988) and the 'yellow book' (McDonald et al. 1990) but provides a substantially broader support of land resource survey with the inclusion of polygonal and SPC data. The components of SALI are distinct, but related in conceptual and database dimensions (Biggs et al 2000).

SALI consists of a master data system where the spatial component is stored in ARCINFO and the database components (sites, polygons and soil profile classes) are stored in an INGRES application. This is replicated in the regions with each of the database modules having an MS-ACCESS version to allow easy access and use for field officers. There is an ARCVIEW application (SALI-GIS) which allow easy integration of spatial and textual data. An additional set of SALI tools manage the connection with laboratory data systems and facilitate the management of projects and project metadata.

Currently Departmental metadata is managed as an internal web page. Wider access to Queensland data is available through the Australian Spatial Data Directory (ASDD); data is regularly updated from the Queensland system.

Information dissemination

Communication of land resource information is built into the land resource system in Queensland. There is a network of officers with land resource and communication skills who are responsible for using land resource information for planning and environmental issues across each region. Information is available in many forms. Each project produces a formal report which includes a description of the methodology employed, detailed descriptions of study outcomes and a series of maps. In addition, most studies produce extension materials such as soil or land type sheets. Publications are available for sale and data is provided for the cost of transfer. Details can be seen at http://www.nrm.qld.gov.au/lris/webgis/.

For most agricultural areas of the state, Land Management Field Manuals are used to integrate the findings of a number of studies in the area and express them in ways designed to facilitate better land management. Recent versions of the Manuals are available in interactive CD form. A range of other interactive CDs have been developed to meet specific needs eg. to provide land suitability information for property owners in the Mareeba - Dimbulah Irrigation area where rapid land use change is occurring.

An increasing emphasis is developing on providing information interactively across the web. Two examples are now available. The first provides information about the land systems and related information for the Burnett catchment in southern Queensland and the second provides soil information for the sugar lands of Australia. A number of similar sites are planned and the Department as a whole is moving to provide a wide range of information in a Natural Resources Atlas.

References

Biggs, A.J.W. Kidston, E.M. Searle, R.D. Wilson, P.L. Slater, B.K. Grundy, M.J. Heiner, I.J. Smith C.D. and Sweeney C. (2000) SALI - The Soil And Land Information System For Queensland, In Soil 2000: New Horizons for a New Century. Australian and New Zealand Second Joint Soils Conference Volume 3: Poster Papers. (Eds. J.A. Adams and A.K. Metherell). 3-8 December 2000, Lincoln University. New Zealand Society of Soil Science. pp 19-20.

McDonald, R.C., Isbell, R.F., Speight, J.G., Walker, J. and Hopkins, M.S. (1990). Australian Soil and Land Survey Field Handbook, 2nd Edition. Inkata Press, Melbourne

Rosenthal, K.M., Ahern, C.R., Bentley, M.M.G. and Hass, C.A. (1988). WARIS Reference Manual. Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Division of Land Utilisation. Land Resources Bulletin QB88002