Introduction - What is LandScape+?

LandScape+® is a web-based software tool that allows you to create a map of ’landscape types’ in a survey area and use this model to assess geochemical outliers from survey data by landscape type. The landscape types are created from publicly available spatial data and are considered proxies for the physical regolith types in the model area. This provides a basic, first-pass tool for the interpretation of regolith landscapes and statistical outliers within your geochemical data.

Commonly all geochemical samples in a survey are considered as one population and the highest concentrations in the data set are considered outliers without consideration of landscape context. This ignores the underlying processes that may affect metal dispersion. For example, elevated metal concentrations may be readily identifiable as outliers in a geochemical data set where samples were collected over exposed outcrop or shallow residual materials of comparably more metal-rich parent materials. The same area would have a much weaker elemental signal in samples collected over moderately thick depositional landscape types such as a sand plain. It is therefore important to consider landscape context when evaluating soil geochemical results. All samples in a given landscape type are essentially sub-populations within the sample set that can be treated separately and assessed in a more appropriate spatial context.