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Assessing soil fractal and sorting characteristics based on geostatistics and modeling approaches in a typical basin of North China plain

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Abstract

Fractal dimension is a parameter that quantitatively describes the complexity of fractal set. In order to understand the spatial variation characteristics of soil fractal dimension and its influencing factors, different geomorphic units in a typical basin of the North China plain were selected for sampling. And the grain size distribution of 180 soil samples were measured by laser diffraction. Fractal dimension was analyzed by the software of SPSS26 and Voxler4.3 to search for significant influencing factors. Then, in the same coordinate system as fractal dimension, models of soil particle sorting were built. There was a decreasing trend from the sloping plain at the southwest piedmont (1.6244) towards the alluvial plain (1.2164) about fractal dimension. In piedmont plain, fractal dimension was significantly correlated with the minimum particle size and proportion of clayey particles, respectively. In coastal plain, fractal dimension was extremely significantly correlated with the maximum particle size and the proportion of sandy particles, respectively. The spatial variability of soil structures in the study area was significant. The models features of sorting and fractal dimension are similar, and a linear relationship existed between fractal dimension and standard deviation as follows: D = 1.236σ1 + 0.082. This research supports quantitative and visual characterization of spatial variability of soil structure and sorting of soil particles.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundations of China (No. 41672249 and No. 41877201). The authors would like to express their gratitude to Engineer Wei Zhang, Engineer Feng Ma for their assistance, both of them work in Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology.

Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundations of China (Nos. 41672249, 41877201).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Shijiazhuang, 050061, China

    Lei Dai, Guiling Wang & Yujiang He

  2. China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China

    Lei Dai

  3. Technology Innovation Center for Geothermal & Hot Dry Rock Exploration and Development, Ministry of Natural Resources, Shijiazhuang, 050061, China

    Lei Dai, Guiling Wang & Yujiang He

Authors
  1. Lei Dai
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  2. Guiling Wang
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  3. Yujiang He
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Lei Dai; Methodology: Lei Dai; Formal analysis and investigation: Lei Dai,Yujiang He; Writing - original draft preparation: Lei Dai; Writing - review and editing: Lei Dai, Guiling Wang, Yujiang He; Funding acquisition: Guiling Wang, Yujiang He.

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Correspondence to Yujiang He.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. / The authors declare no competing interests.

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Communicated by: H. Babaie

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Dai, L., Wang, G. & He, Y. Assessing soil fractal and sorting characteristics based on geostatistics and modeling approaches in a typical basin of North China plain. Earth Sci Inform 14, 819–829 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-021-00575-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-021-00575-9

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