A Fractal Method of Estimating Soil Structure Changes Under Different Vegetations on Ziwuling Mountains of the Loess Plateau, China

Fractal method is a new method to estimate soil structure. It has been shown to be a useful tool in studies related to physical properties of soil as well as erosion and other hydrological processes. Fractal dimension was used to study the soil structure in soil at different stages of vegetative succession on the Ziwuling Mountains. The land use and vegetation types included cultivated land, abandoned land, grassland, two types of shrub land, and three types of forests. The grassland, shrub land, and forested areas represented a continuum in vegetative succession that had occurred naturally, as the land was abandoned in 1862. Disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were collected from ten vegetation types from depths of 0–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm on the Ziwuling Mountains, at a site with an elevation of about 1500 m. Particle size distribution was determined by the pipette method and aggregate size distribution was determined by wet sieving. The results were used to calculate the particle and aggregate fractal dimension. The results showed that particle and aggregate fractal dimensions varied between vegetation types. There was a positive correlation between the particle fractal dimension and the weight of particles with diameter <0.001 mm, but no relationship between particle fractal dimension and the other particle size classes. Particle fractal dimension was lower in vegetated soils compared to cropland and there was no consistent relationship between fractal dimension and vegetation type. Aggregate fractal dimension was positively correlated with the weight of >0.25 mm aggregates. Aggregate fractal dimension was lower in vegetated soils compared with cropland. In contrast to particle fractal dimension, aggregate fractal dimension described changes in soil structure associated with vegetative succession. The results of this study indicate that aggregate fractal dimension is more effective in describing soil structure and function compared with particle fractal dimension.