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Scaling Characteristics of Soil Structure

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Pedometrics

Part of the book series: Progress in Soil Science ((PROSOIL))

Abstract

As previously discussed in Chap. 5, soil structure is defined by the spatial arrangement of soil primary particles and aggregates. There is increasing evidence that quantitative characterization of the soil structure and of its heterogeneity and complexity holds the key to a deeper understanding on physical, chemical, and biological processes that take place within them (Vogel 2000; Rockhold et al. 2004; Young et al. 2008; Blair et al. 2007; Pajor et al. 2010; Kravchenko et al. 2010; Dullien 2012).Therefore, it is very important to obtain an accurate description of it which best approximates to reality. Although many parameters may be used to attempt to describe irregular morphology, the spatial arrangement of the most prominent features is a challenging problem across a wide range of disciplines (Ripley 1988; Griffith 1988; Baveye and Boast 1988).

“For a complex natural shape, dimension is relative. It varies with the observer. The same object can have more than one dimension, depending on how you measure it and what you want to do with it. And dimension need not be a whole number; it can be fractional. Now an ancient concept, dimension, becomes thoroughly modern”.

Benoît B. Mandelbrot, The (Mis)Behaviour of Markets (2004)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for the Management of Agricultural and Environmental Risks (CEIGRAM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Madrid, Spain

    Ana M. Tarquis, Juan J. Martín-Sotoca, Nigel R. A. Bird & Antonio Saa-Requejo

  2. Complex Systems Group, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Madrid, Spain

    Ana M. Tarquis, Iván G. Torre, Juan J. Martín-Sotoca & Juan C. Losada

  3. Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Madrid, Spain

    Iván G. Torre

  4. Group of Automation of Signals and Communications, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Madrid, Spain

    Juan B. Grau

  5. Resource Assessment Group, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Madrid, Spain

    Antonio Saa-Requejo

Authors
  1. Ana M. Tarquis
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  2. Iván G. Torre
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  3. Juan J. Martín-Sotoca
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  4. Juan C. Losada
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  5. Juan B. Grau
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  6. Nigel R. A. Bird
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  7. Antonio Saa-Requejo
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Correspondence to Ana M. Tarquis .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sydney Institute of Agriculture & School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Alex. B. McBratney

  2. Sydney Institute of Agriculture & School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Budiman Minasny

  3. Sydney Institute of Agriculture & School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Uta Stockmann

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Tarquis, A.M. et al. (2018). Scaling Characteristics of Soil Structure. In: McBratney, A., Minasny, B., Stockmann, U. (eds) Pedometrics. Progress in Soil Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63439-5_6

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