Joint Multifractal Analysis of Scaling Relationships Between Soil Water-Retention Parameters and Soil Texture

Soil water-retention characteristics at measurement scales are generally different from those at application scales, and there is scale disparity between them and soil physical properties. The relationships between two water-retention parameters, the scaling parameter related to the inverse of the air-entry pressure (alpha(vG), cm(-1)) and the curve shape factor related to soil pore-size distribution (n) of the van Genuchten water-retention equation, and soil texture (sand, silt, and clay contents) were examined at multiple scales. One hundred twenty-eight undisturbed soil samples were collected from a 640-m transect located in Fuxin, China. Soil water-retention curves were measured and the van Genuchten parameters were obtained by curve fitting. The relationships between the two parameters and soil texture at the observed scale and at multiple scales were evaluated using Pearson correlation and joint multifractal analyses, respectively. The results of Pearson correlation analysis showed that the parameter alpha(vG) was significantly correlated with sand, silt, and clay contents at the observed scale. Joint multifractal analyses, however, indicated that the parameter alpha(vG) was not correlated with silt and sand contents at multiple scales. The parameter n was positively correlated with clay content at multiple scales. Sand content was significantly correlated with the parameter n at the observed scale but not at multiple scales. Clay contents were strongly correlated to both water-retention parameters because clay content was relatively low in the soil studied, indicating that water retention was dominated by clay content in the field of this study at all scales. These suggested that multiple-scale analyses were necessary to fully grasp the spatial variability of soil water-retention characteristics.