PREDICTING OF SOIL STRUCTURAL STABILITY WITH PEDOTRANSFER FUNCTIONS IN A PILOT AREA, KAHRAMANMARAS, TURKEY

In recent years, estimation engineering has become a popular subject in soil science. This circumstance is due to the necessity of database update, easiness requirement by researchers and demand of reduce the cost by funders. Pedotransfer approach is one of the most common prediction tools. The objective of this study was to investigate suitability of pedotransfer functions (PTFs) for predicting wet aggregate stability (WAS) in pilot area of Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University Campus, located in the Southern Anatolia, Turkey. Soil samples were collected from surface (0-15 cm) of research area. Seasonal variability of structural strength was considered in methodological construction. Correlation matrix and path analysis results were regarded as statistical guides before generated PTFs. Accuracy of the PTFs was evaluated using coefficient of Durbin Watson (CDW), coefficient of determination (R-2) and root mean square error (RMSE). According to the results of this study, pedotransfer concept was suitable to estimate the WAS values of soils in the research area. Developed seventh equation (WAS7) was determined as the best model in this study. It was key finding of this study that soil moisture constants such as field capacity and permanent wilting point may be used as equation components in PTFs predicting WAS.