Using R-software for classification of soil granulometry classes and creating the Ferrers diagrams

Abstract

The article describes a detailed  algorithm to recompute the size of the elementary soil particles obtained by Kachinsky technique (a method conventionally used by Russian soil scientists) into the international granulometric size distribution pattern of 2000-50-2 µm using the formula introduced by E.V. Shein in 2009. The article also describes step-by-step procedures to create Ferrers diagrams using the soiltexture”, “plotrix” и “ggtern”packages in R environment. One of the advantages of R software is its free distribution and usage, vast range of options for the diagram settings, and, in the process of doing so, accruing the experience of working with a very popular language for statistical analysis and data visualization.