Arid Zone Research ›› 2019, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (2): 314-322.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2019.02.06

• Soil Ecology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Fractal and Multifractal Analysis on Saline Soil Particle Size Distribution in Arid Oasis

ZHANG An-he1,2,3, DING Jian-li1,2,3, WANG Jing-zhe1,2,3, MUATTAR Saydi1,2,3, LI Yan-ju1,2,3   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Smart City and Environment Modelling of Higher Education Institute, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 800046, Xinjiang,China;
    2. Collage of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, Xinjiang,China;
    3. Key Laboratory of Oasis Ecology under Ministry of Education, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, Xinjiang,China
  • Received:2018-07-04 Revised:2018-08-27 Published:2025-10-18

Abstract: In order to explore the relationship between salinization characters and soil particle size distribution (PSD) of soil in arid oasis, total 38 soil samples were collected from the Weigan-Kuqa River delta oasis in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in April 2016. And the characteristics of soil PSD of saline soil and non-saline soil in the study area were quantitatively based on the fractal theory. The results showed that the volumetric percentages of silt particles were dominated, followed by sand and clay particles. The volumetric percentages of silt and clay were positively correlated with soil salt content, while the volumetric percentage of sand was negatively correlated with soil salt content. The D value of the fractional dimension was ranged from 1.990 to 2.349, and the correlation coefficients between it and the volumetric percentages of clay and silt particles was 0.81 and 0.64, respectively, which passed the significance test at level of 0.01. However, the correlation between D value and the volumetric percentage of sand particles was significantly negative with the correlation coefficient of -0.67 (P<0.01). The soil PSD had the multifractal characteristics, PSD range of the saline soil (salt content ≥3 g·kg-1) was wider than that of the non-saline soil (salt content <3 g·kg-1), and which was more heterogeneous. Soil salt content was significantly negative correlation with the multifractal parameters D1 (the entropy dimension) and D1/D0 with the correlation coefficients of -0.265 (P<0.01) and -0.283 (P<0.01) respectively. The significantly positive correlation could be detected between soil salt content and Δa(the width of multifractal spectra) with a correlation coefficient of 0.206 (P<0.01). However, soil salt content had no significant correlation with D, D0 (capacity dimension) and Δf.

Key words: Weigan-Kuqa River Oasis, saline soil, soil particle size, fractal, multifractal, arid region