Multifractal characteristics of soil particle size distribution under different land-use types on the Loess Plateau, China

Soil particle-size distribution (PSD) is one of the most important physical attributes due to its great influence on soil properties related to water movement, productivity, and soil erosion. The multifractal measures were useful tools in characterization of PSD in soils with different taxonomies. Land-use type largely influences PSD in a soil, but information on how this occurs for different land-use types is very limited. In this paper, multifractal Rényi dimension was applied to characterize PSD in soils with the same taxonomy and different land-use types. The effects of land use on the multifractal parameters were then analyzed. The study was conducted on the hilly-gullied regions of the Loess Plateau, China. A Calcic Cambisols soil was sampled from five land-use types: woodland, shrub land, grassland, terrace farmland and abandoned slope farmland with planted trees (ASFP). The result showed that: (1) entropy dimension (D1) and entropy dimension/capacity dimension ratio (D1/D0) were significantly positively correlated with finer particle content and soil organic matter. (2) D0, D1 and D1/D0 were significantly influenced by land use. Land use could explain 24.6–58.5% of variability of D0, D1/D0 and D1, which may be potential parameters to reflect soil physical properties and soil quality influenced by land use.