Soil surface pH is one of 18 attributes of soils chosen to underpin the land suitability assessment of the Victoria River Water Resource Assessment (VIWRA) through the digital soil mapping process (DSM). Soil surface pH is used as a general indicator or proxy of conditions that affect the availability of plant nutrients and potential nutrient toxicities and/or deficiencies. This soil surface pH raster data represents a modelled dataset of pH of the soil surface (<0.10m) measured in standard pH units and is derived from field measurements, analysed site data and environmental covariates. The soil surface pH is a parameter used in land suitability assessments for indicating availability of nutrients for plant use or nutrient deficiencies and/or toxicities eg strong acidity or alkalinity may lead to reduced plant growth. This raster data provides improved soil information used to underpin and identify opportunities and promote detailed investigation for a range of sustainable regional development options and was created within the ‘Land Suitability’ activity of the CSIRO VIWRA. A companion dataset and statistics reflecting reliability of this data are also provided and can be found described in the lineage section of this metadata record. Processing information is supplied in ranger R scripts and attributes were modelled using a Random Forest approach. The DSM process is described in the CSIRO VIWRA published report ‘Soils and land suitability for the Victoria catchment, Northern Territory’. A technical report from the CSIRO Victoria River Water Resource Assessment to the Government of Australia. The Victoria River Water Resource Assessment provides a comprehensive overview and integrated evaluation of the feasibility of aquaculture and agriculture development in the Victoria catchment NT as well as the ecological, social and cultural (indigenous water values, rights and aspirations) impacts of development.
