Interpretable Digital Soil Organic Matter Mapping Based on Geographical Gaussian Process-Generalized Additive Model (GGP-GAM)

Soil organic matter (SOM) is a key soil component. Determining its spatial distribution is necessary for precision agriculture and to understand the ecosystem services that soil provides. However, field SOM studies are severely limited by time and costs. To obtain a spatially continuous distribution map of SOM content, it is necessary to conduct digital soil mapping (DSM). In addition, there is a vital need for both accuracy and interpretability in SOM mapping, which is difficult to achieve with conventional DSM models. To address the above issues, particularly mapping SOM content, a spatial coefficient of variation (SVC) regression model, the Geographic Gaussian Process Generalized Additive Model (GGP-GAM), was used. The root mean squared error (RMSE), mean average error (MAE), and adjusted coefficient of determination (adjusted R2) of this model for SOM mapping in Leizhou area are 7.79, 6.01, and 0.33 g kg−1, respectively. GGP-GAM is more accurate compared to the other three models (i.e., Geographical Random Forest, Geographically Weighted Regression, and Regression Kriging). Moreover, the patterns of covariates affecting SOM are interpreted by mapping coefficients of each predictor individually. The results show that GGP-GAM can be used for the high-precision mapping of SOM content with good interpretability. This DSM technique will in turn contribute to agricultural sustainability and decision making.