Spatial variability of magnetic soil properties

The presence of magnetic iron oxides in the soil can seriously hamper the performance of electromagnetic sensors for the detection of buried land mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO). Previous work has shown that spatial variability in soil water content and texture affects the performance of ground penetrating radar and thermal sensors for land mine detection. In this paper we aim to study the spatial variability of iron oxides in tropical soils and the possible effect on electromagnetic induction sensors for buried low-metal land mine and UXO detection. We selected field sites in Panama, Hawaii, and Ghana. Along several horizontal transects in Panama and Hawaii we took closely spaced magnetic susceptibility readings using Bartington MS2D and MS2F sensors. In addition to the field measurements, we took soil samples from the selected sites for laboratory measurements of dual frequency magnetic susceptibility and textural characteristics of the material. The magnetic susceptibility values show a significant spatial variation in susceptibility and are comparable to values reported to hamper the operation of metal detectors in parts of Africa and Asia. The absolute values of susceptibility do not correlate with both frequency dependence and total iron content, which is an indication of the presence of different types of iron oxides in the studied material.