Comparison of fractal dimensions of soils estimated from adsorption isotherms, mercury intrusion, and particle size distribution

The values of the surface fractal dimensions were determined for several sa mples of Cambisols and Luvisols from analysis of nitrogen and water vapor a dsorption isotherms and from mercury intrusion data. Moreover, the values o f fractal dimension characterizing the particle size distributions of soil samples were calculated by using a number-based method. For almost all inve stigated soils the values of the surface fractal dimension, obtained from w ater vapor isotherms were lower than those obtained from nitrogen isotherms . Largest were the surface fractal dimensions evaluated form mercury intrus ion data. No significant correlations between different kinds of surface fr actal dimensions were found, and the reasons of this finding are discussed. However, the values of the surface fractal dimensions calculated from merc ury intrusion data correlate with those characterizing the texture of soils . The paper also reports on correlations between of die values of surface a rea, fractal dimensions and some selected physico-chemical characteristics of soils.