Mapping soil compaction measuring cone penetrometer resistance

The quickest way for monitoring soil compaction differences in a field is measuring cone penetrometer resistance. Soil compaction can be significantly spatially variable, depending on the amount and distribution of the traffic of agricultural machines in the field. Therefore, it could be useful to measure soil compaction on a localised basis, in order to produce maps of the damages caused by the traffic of agricultural machines and/or the action of tillage implements. Aim of this paper is to present a system developed by the Department I.T.A.F. for the geo-referenced measurement of cone penetrometer resistance and for mapping soil compaction. This system was built fitting a minitransporter with an electronic penetrometer and a DGPS mobile receiver. In order to test the system, several measurements were carried out. A GIS software was used to produce soil compaction maps.