SOIL MASS, SURFACE, AND SPECTRAL FRACTAL DIMENSIONS ESTIMATED FROM THIN-SECTION PHOTOGRAPHS

Aspects of fractal geometry have been used to give quantitative measur ements of soil structure. Fractal dimensions measured were the mass fr actal dimension (D-m), surface fractal dimension (D-s), and the spectr al dimension (d). We investigated the fractal component of a computer program, STRUCTURA, which measures the fractal dimension of soil from images of soil thin sections, Six thin sections, each showing differen t structural characteristics, were analyzed in order to obtain a range of fractal dimensions, The dimensions, in particular D-m and d, were shown to discriminate the different structures. The values of D-m and d ranged from 1.682 to 1.852 and 1.236 to 1.668, respectively, A furth er objective was to use these results, together with fractal theory, t o show the potential fractal geometry has in predicting physical proce sses such as diffusion within the soil. To assist with the interpretat ion of fractal dimensions, the dimensions of different soil samples wi th the same porosity were compared.