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Assignment 1- Structured Assay Ethelbert Duca – 293398M

1a)
Soil is composed of five major components:

 Minerals, originating from decomposition of rock.

 Organic matter, from the decomposition of plant, animal and bacterial organic
material.
 Water, mainly from precipitation.
 Gasses, mainly from the atmosphere.
 Living organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, nematodes and earthworms.

1b)
Physical properties:

 Texture, refers to the proportion of various sized particles making up the soil, silt,
clay and sand
 Structure, refers to the arrangement of aggregates.
 Colour, depends on various factors such as mineral and organic material content.
 Consistence, depends on cohesive and adhesive properties, including moisture
content.
 Bulk density, an indicator of pore space availability.
 Permeability, refers to how permeable the soil is to movement of water and air
Chemical properties:

 Soil Reaction (pH), gives insight on the alkalinity or salinity of particular soil.
 Cation Exchange Capacity, an important factor as it affects availability of nutrients to
plants.

1c)
The most widely recognized soil classification system is the United Soil Classification (USC),
it has three major classifications for soil, coarse, fine and highly organic soils.
D. M. Lang (1960) classified Maltese soils formations as:

 Carbonate soils, derived from blue clay and globigerina, high content of calcium
carbonate.
 Xerorendzinas, derived from globigerina rock.
 Terra Rossa soils, derived from coralline limestone, characterized by the reddish
colour due to its high iron content.

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1d)
Sustainable soil management refers to activities that promote the maintenance of soil
functions to preserve associated services for biodiversity and future generations. As soil is
highly vulnerable to anthropogenic activates, governmental policy is fundamental to strive
towards sustainable soil management.

2a)
Basic concept of GIS:
GIS stands for Geographic Information System, its a computer-based tool that allows user
to interact with spatial and non-spatial data, analyze output and visualize results by
presenting them as maps. GIS is a very effective tool for modern times, as it helps to solve
spatial queries.
Basic elements of GIS:

 People, the most important element as they develop GIS procedures and overcome
shortcomings of the software, the skill of the individual determines the quality final
product.
 Data, the information used by the GIS software, its quality determines the final
product.
 Software, which allows the use of GIS, there are many different software to suit
different levels of skill.
 Hardware, determines speed of operation.
 Procedures are the steps taken to input, analyze and examine data.
2b)
Spatial analysis is the process of modeling problems geographically to examine them, with
GIS (ESRI Press Team, 2018). GIS visualizes data, consisting of coordinates and attributes,
enhancing interaction with the user, making it easier to understand relationships and solve
queries.
2c)
ArcGIS is a server that offers online geographic information system (GIS) services. It was
developed and by Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri). Its used to make maps,
analyze spatial data, and examine relationships to take informed decisions.
Main components of ArcGIS:

 ArcMap, used to create, view and edit spatial data;

 Arc Toolbox, used to perform analysis of data;
 Arc Catalog, used to display, manage and save data.

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2di)
To digitize fieldwork data, you must first download/save the GPS coordinates, to then input
it manually into a GIS software map. Using orthophotos to provide context to the ground-
collected data, would help to better visualize it.
2dii)
Aerial photos are very important as these provide context to spatial data. On their own,
orthophotos can be used to directly plot certain types of data on them (such as locations of
schools per town as part of a census mapping exercise), removing the need of ground
fieldwork. This makes it a less consuming and cheaper option for data collection.
2diii)
Map elements can be used to give context to data. Some examples of map elements are;
legend, title, scale and logo. Adding a title (example: Zabbar) to a map is a visual way to
deliver the location to viewer, adding a scale also has the same effect as it enhances the
viewer’s point of view in relation to the actual distances shown on a map.

3a)
In the past, monitoring of pollutants in oceans was much more time consuming and
constrained as it involved in situ collection of water samples. Nowadays, remote sensing
technology provides real-time measurements on marine pollution, such as oil spills. As real-
time remote sensing data is collected, it is typically converted into maps, using GIS. These
so-called oil spill distribution maps allow retrieval of key information, such as predictions of
future spills. These maps can also be used to reveal offshore sources, estimate pollution
intensity, and predict oil trajectories. With remote sensing, GIS is also very useful since it
continuously adds new and updated data sets, allowing accurate oil spill maps. The same
principles can be applied for monitoring of eutrophication.
3b)
Having an accurate and updated assessment of land cover (agriculture & crop monitoring)
and a clear understanding of how its changing is quite important for policy makers for good
planning, management and monitoring. Noting the scale of such assessments, ground data
collection is not viable, making remote sensing the easiest and fastest way to accurately
acquire spatial data on land cover. Through GIS, maps created from aerial photographs
taken over the years can easily visualise key information such as trends.
3c)
Satellite imagery can also be used to get information on various factors that can then be
manipulated to determine which areas are susceptible to erosion, based on models such as
RUSLE. Such factors include topography, type of soil, vegetation and land use. There are

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different ways of getting data through remote sensing, for example topography
characteristics can be determined using elevation models created by satellite image
processing, such as ALOS. With the use of GIS and remote sensing data, these factors areas
with potential risks of erosion can be identified.

4a)
The aim of the study was to provide quantitative estimates of soil erosion by water of the
Maltese Islands for the year 2013 (D. Sultana, 2015)
4b)
RUSLE is an empirical model set to estimate the annual average loss of erosion by water,
which takes into account the following factors;

 Runoff erosivity (R)

 Slope length and steepness (LS)
 Cover management (C)
 Support practice (P)
 Soil erodibility (K)
4c)
The study concluded that 61.01 km2, or 19.33% of total land area of the Maltese Islands is at
risk of moderate to severe soil erosion. The central and north-eastern areas of Malta are at
the lowest risk, being comparatively superior in terms of erosion control and land
management, whilst also having flat topographies. In Maltese north-western and Gozitan
areas, there is a large range of erosion rates. The areas with the lowest risks are plateaus,
whilst plateaus flanks have significant erosion rates due to their high topographic gradients,
poor erosion and cultivation. Oppositely, steep flanks with sufficient vegetation and good
soil management and conservation practices experience lower erosion risk.
In the discussion, the author did not consider the impact of flowing watercourses in valleys
as contributing factor to erosion in the Maltese Islands. In my opinion, this should have
included, as running water is a leading cause of soil erosion, especially when channeled
through a watercourse. In addition, I would have differentiated between areas whereby soil
would be at highest risk of being lost from the Maltese Islands (such as at cliffs and beaches)
and areas whereby soil is merely moving from one site to another. I think the distinction
should be made clear since its better to have inland valleys accumulating sediment along the
valley bed rather than valleys losing it to the sea. This distinction could help local authorities
as it would highlight sites that would benefit the most from targeted measures.