Fig. 3

Clustering analysis of soil data across the study area. (a) Determination of the optimal number of clusters based on average silhouette score metrics, ensuring robust group separation. (b) t-SNE projection displaying the cluster assignments in a reduced-dimensional space, facilitating visual validation of cluster structure. (c) Geographical mapping of the identified soil clusters across the sampled plots, showing their spatial distribution. (d) Histogram representing the frequency of plots grouped by cluster for each department, providing insight into regional soil classification patterns.