Infrared Soil Analysis laboratory - Adelaide, South Australia

About the ISAL | ISAL strengths | Current Research & Applications | In-field Applications | Staff/Contact

History of MIR at CSIRO | What is mid infrared (MIR) spectroscopy? | Predicting soil properties | Statistical Methods & Analysis | Additional Services | Routine Analyses

Additional services provided by ISAL

Advice (consulting)

Advice and help in the use of:

• Novel or alternative infrared sampling methodologies, e.g. liquid film, soil solution, using attenuated total reflectance (ATR), photo acoustic spectroscopy (PAS)
• Infrared spectrometers and software selection
• Training in infrared and soil analysis software
• Set-up and implementation of infrared facilities in client laboratories including MIR and NIR spectroscopy
• Sample preparation
• Experimental design, selection of soils to cover site variability

Additional new calibration development

The unit can build new calibration sets specific for the client’s needs:

• Site specific calibrations
• Non soils samples e.g. gypsum, fertiliser, agricultural products
• Soil amendment trials and applications
• Pollution monitoring
• Precision agriculture
• Transferral of calibrations between instruments.

Research Support

Many additional services can be provided to help scientists with their research projects. Researchers at CSIRO Land and Water in the MIR service area are considered world leaders in the infrared analysis of soils, soil organic matter and mineralogy, and can offer a research support capability based on their extensive experience in infrared spectroscopy and soil science.

We can visually interpret variation in soils from peaks in their spectra without input from any lab data. From these peaks, we can attribute ‘soil-type’, general mineralogy and organic content. Site-specific maps can also be constructed using the relative variation of predicted soil properties (Table 1) mapped against the sample’s location.

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History of Mid infrared (MIR) spectroscopy at CSIRO

Mid infrared (MIR) spectroscopy was first used by the CSIRO Division of Soils in 1965, primarily using the mid-infrared (MIR) polarised attenuated reflectance (ATR) method. for the fundamental study of molecular structures and chemistry describing soil mineralogical processes and clay-organic interactions.

In addition to ATR MIR spectroscopy, the infrared group developed the use of infrared photo-acoustic (PAS) spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance (DRIFT) spectroscopy and micro-sampling for soil and mineral studies.

While most studies were carried out with conventional laboratory bench top instruments, operating in both the MIR and the near infrared (NIR), field portable and hand-held units were also acquired.

In the early 1990s. the CSIRO infrared team combined for the first time MIR spectroscopy with the Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression method to enable soil properties to be predicted solely from computer models built from soil spectra and corresponding analytical data. A MIR PLS soil carbon model was developed in 1993 which could rapidly partition soil organic matter into its various carbon pool types, contributing to the current carbon sequestration model used by the Australian Greenhouse Office (based partly on the Roth-C model).

The principles developed for soil organic matter were subsequently extended to the prediction of many other soil properties, and a routine soil analysis service was established within the CSIRO Analytical Service Unit in 2004.

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