Articles | Volume 14, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-14-425-2007
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-14-425-2007
20 Jul 2007
20 Jul 2007

Wavelet analysis in a structured clay soil using 2-D images

J. A. Piñuela, D. Andina, K. J. McInnes, and A. M. Tarquis

Abstract. The spatial variability of preferential pathways for water and chemical transport in a field soil, as visualized through dye infiltration experiments, was studied by applying multifractal and wavelet transform analysis (WTA). After dye infiltration into a 4 m² plot located on a Vertisol soil near College Station, Texas, horizontal planes in the subsoil were exposed at 5 cm intervals, and dye stain patterns were photographed. Box-counting methods and WTA were applied to all of the 16 digitalized high-resolution dye images and to the dye-mass image obtained merging all sections. The well-known Devil's staircase multifractal was also used to illustrate wavelet-based analysis. Our results suggest that wavelet methods can complement box-counting analysis in the context of multiscaling structure analysis.