
148 Pedodiversity
3.5.1 Heterogeneity indices
The mean density of soil and landform bodies, Md, is a possible indicator of
soil and landform heterogenity (Saldaña et al. 2011). Values vary depending
on the relief, climate, vegetation cover, dissection and erosion processes.
These extrinsic factors vary depending the structures, environments and
idiosyncratic histories of each region. The index of heterogeneity, HI
(Saldaña et al. 2011) considers the number of the different geopedologic
units present in the maps and thus is a measure of landform heterogeneity.
HI is related to the diversity of the soil cover so that a highly diverse
soilscape ...