Soil Morphological Applications of Wavelet and Fractal Analyses.

The recent development of multistripe laser triangulation (MLT) scanning has shown enormous promise in quantifying soil structure from intact soil specimens.  The use of MLT scanning technology in conjunction with field-portable VIS reflectance spectroscopy, which can be used to quantify soil color, has the potential to capture fine-resolution soil-morphological data at the pedon-scale.  We applied wavelet and fractal analyses to extract morphological information from three soil monoliths where data were collected from a MLT scanner and VIS reflectance spectrometer.  The monoliths were of the Brownfield (loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Arenic Aridic Paleustalfs), Amarillo (fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Aridic Paleustalfs), and Tillman series (fine, mixed, superactive, thermic Vertic Paleustolls) and represented an increase in soil structural grade of the subsoil, respectively.  Inputs into the wavelet and fractal analyses were topographic data, pore-size distributions, and spectral/color data.  Comparisons between wavelet analyses and traditional descriptions of the monoliths are presented.