Description of soil pore systems accessible for water by fractal dimensions

Soils are generally penetrated by a pore system. Most transport processes o ccur in this pore space. The description of the pore space shape is necessa ry to quantify how geometry influences the percolation of substances such a s water or nutrients. For this description we use the fractal dimensions of this space. The value of that parameter is obtained from porosimetric meas urements. Our findings show that the fractal dimensions are not constant. T hey differ from soil to soil and from depth to depth. Occasionally one part icular value does not suffice for describing the whole pore space. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.