Characterization of Particle Size Distributions in Soils
Collaborators: M. Bittelli (Washington State University) and G. S. Campbell (Decagon Devices, Inc.)
The objective of this study is to test the mass-based fragmentation approach proposed by Turcotte (1986) for characterizing PSDs, and to determine the range of particle diameters where power-law scaling is applicable.
To test the general validity and the extent of power-law scaling it is of fundamental importance to have data that span several orders of magnitude. Traditional sedimentation and hydrometer techniques for the measurement of PSDs yield only limited data in the clay fraction smaller than 2~$\mu$m. Light scattering methods overcome this problem and provide data between 0.05 to 1000 $\mu$m.
Publications
- Posadas, A. N.D., D. Gimenez, M. Bittelli, C.M.P. Vaz, and M. Flury, Multifractal characterization of soil particle-size distributions, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J.,
65, 1361-1367, 2001.
- Bittelli, M., G.S. Campbell, and M. Flury, Characterization of particle-size
distributions in soils with a fragmentation model, Soil Sci. Soc. Am.
J., 63, 782-788, 1999.
- Bittelli, M., Characterization of Particle Size Distributions in Soils, Masters Thesis, Washington State University, 1998.
Markus Flury 
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