MULTIFRACTAL ANALYSIS OF PARTICLE-SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS IN SOIL

Power-law scaling of particle size distributions in air, water, and so il have been frequently reported and are sometimes interpreted in the context of a fractal dimension to yield estimates of the geometrical c haracteristics of particles and aggregates such as their density or po rosity. However, the underlying process leading to a measure of partic le size distribution suggests that, in general, particle size distribu tions in natural systems should not conform to a simple power law. Rat her, measures on a fractal object such as a particle aggregate give ri se to a very different type of scaling known as multifractal. In this paper, data on soil grain size distributions obtained from soil horizo ns composed predominantly of clay and silt are analyzed to illustrate the inappropriateness of a simple power law interpretation in this cas e and to demonstrate the theoretically anticipated multifractal behavi or.