Multifractal analysis of soil structure to estimate soil quality parameters

• Grant number: 14/05738-0
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): July 15, 2014
• Effective date (End): July 12, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal researcher: Miguel Cooper
• Grantee: Edison Aparecido Mome Filho
• Supervisor abroad: Daniel Giménez
• Home Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Research place: Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/08736-6 - Quantitative soil structure parameters estimation using advanced micromorphometric analysis, BP.DR

Abstract

The study of attributes related to soil structure allows inferences on soil behavior and are important to soil characterization. Some institutions as USDA and EMBRAPA recommend the use of soil quality parameters to verify impacts that can occur on-site caused by a soil with poor functioning. Some quantitative indexes are related to soil quality and can be used to rank soil uses and management. The multifractal analysis is an underused promising technique to obtain quantitative parameters, being, as some researchers mentioned, "an alternative to conventional geometry". Several studies show that multifractal spectrum parameters are related to porous system heterogeneity. However, the relationship between a particular multifractal response and the soil behavior is not yet established. The objective of this study is to explore the use of multifractal analysis to estimate soil structure quantitative parameters, verify its viability on soil quality differentiation and on evaluation of the dynamics of soils surface crusting. (AU)