An innovative approach for visualization of subsurface soil properties

Subsurface characterization is an important requirement in the decision-making process of selecting a remediation technique for petroleum-contaminated sites. The soil type distribution is one of the most important site characteristics, because it affects selection of the site remediation technique. The visualization of soil type distribution and also the contaminant concentration distribution in the subsurface can help the decision-maker understand the site and select the proper remediation technique. In this paper, we describe the software Soil-Visual (1.0, 1.1), which is used for visualizing the soil sampling data, the soil type distribution, and contaminant concentration distribution of a contaminated site. This software has two functions: (1) to determine the soil particle size distribution and contaminant concentration distribution of the entire site from limited soil sampling data; and (2) to visualize the multi-dimensional soil type distribution and contaminant concentration distribution data of each soil layer on a two-dimensional map. The red-green-blue (RGB) color illustration method has been used in this software to convert the multi-dimensional soil sampling data into a bitmap. Key words: RGB bitmap, soil classification, visualization