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DEW physical soil archive

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Summary

The Department for Environment and Water are custodians of a physical soil archive of ~6,400 samples which were collected across South Australia. These samples capture soil condition at the time of sampling which provide important baseline data for environmental monitoring.

This page will help you understand:

the origin of soil samples contained within the soil physical archive
the process used by researchers to request access to soil archive samples.

DEW physical soil archive

The State Land and Soil Mapping Program (1986-2012) was comprised of extensive field investigations and stereoscopic analyses of aerial photography to develop comprehensive soil mapping information for South Australia.

As part of this program, soil samples were collected at intervals (corresponding to soil horizons) down the soil profile at each of the 1,200+ soil characterisation sites. The soil physicochemical properties of these samples were analysed and incorporated into mapping products. These soil samples are stored in a physical soil archive maintained by the Department for Environment and Water (DEW). Soils were air dried, ground and sieved (2 mm) prior to storing at ambient temperatures.

Soil samples stored in the archive are freely available for use by researchers in the Australian scientific community for soil condition investigations. Cost recovery may be incurred for large or complex sample requests.

DEW physical soil archive — Soil samples were collected at intervals down the soil profile and are stored in the DEW soil archive. Schematic Source: DEW (2026).

Requesting samples for research

Researchers can submit a request to borrow soil archive samples for use as part of their research projects. This may include the use of soil samples in non-destructive or destructive analyses, pending approval by DEW. The archive prioritises requests for non-destructive analyses. The sample request process is summarised in the schematic below.

Choose samples

Researchers can assess if DEW has any suitable soil archive samples for their projects, by reviewing the soil characterisation sites on Soil Sites SA and NatureMaps (soils layer). These web portals provide site-specific information including location of origin, soil type and basic physicochemical attributes. Soil data from these sites are available for free download.

Example soil site datasheet: CH175A

Submit an expression of interest form

An ‘Expression of Interest’ (EOI) form is submitted by interested researchers, which outlines the samples of interest, the soil sample quantities required, as well as research aims and methods (e.g. destructive vs non-destructive analyses).

Completed EOI forms are submitted for approval via email to DEWSoilsInfo@sa.gov.au.

Application review and approval

The EOI is reviewed by the DEW Soils Team to ensure it is fit-for-purpose and compared with soil sample availability. The methodology and soil parameters outlined in the EOI are cross-checked with the DEW soil database, to see if the required analyses have already been performed on the sample, in which case the data can be made available to the interested researchers.

The review and approval process may take up to 10 working days to be completed.

Material Transfer Agreement (MTA)

Once a sample request has been approved, a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) is signed by DEW and the researcher, which governs the use or loan of the sample, terms of use and data sharing requirements. Once this agreement has been signed, the requested samples can either be picked up by researchers from the Soil Physical Archive in Regency Park (SA), or the samples can be posted to the requested location.

Sharing outcomes

It is a key requirement of the MTA, that researchers using soil archive samples provide a copy of their data to DEW at the conclusion of their research. This data will be incorporated into the DEW soil database and will be made available for use by the public under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

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