Soil structure changes due to different land-use practices in the central Zagruos region, Iran

Abstract

In this study, the effect of land-use treatments and the feasibility of fractal dimension to quantify soil aggregate stability were investigated in the central Zagrous, Iran. For this purpose, the non-linear fractal dimension (Dnl), linear fractal dimension (Dl) and the mean weight diameter (MWD) of aggregates were compared. Soil samples from three sites with four adjacent land-use types, namely: forest area (F), cultivated lands adjacent to forest (CAF), pasture (P) and cultivated lands adjacent to pasture (CAP) were collected. Results showed that soils under cultivated lands had higher bulk density (BD) (1.30–1.38 Mg m−3) compared to the adjacent soils under forest (1.19 Mg m−3) and pasture (1.21 Mg m−3). In the 0–15 cm layer, soil organic matter (SOM) content in the cultivated plots were respectively 30% and 31% lower compared to the forest and pasture soils. The lowest CVs belonged to Dnl (5–8%) demonstrating that Dnl was more accurate than Dl (8–14%) and MWD (30–53%) methods. CAP had the largest value of Dnl, while P had the smallest value of Dnl. Difference of Dnl between forest and pasture was not significant, whereas both of them significantly differed from CAF and CAP. Dl did not differ significantly between forest and CAF. There were significant differences between forest and pasture for the measured MWD. Both fractal dimensions had negative correlation with MWD, SOM, hydraulic conductivity (HC) and macroaggregates (>0.25 mm) and positive correlation with BD and total porosity (TP).