• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2010

This study was carried out to investigate plow pan characteristics and to grasp the relationship between its particle size distribution fractal dimension ($D_m$) and water transport in paddy plow pan. Twenty four soil sampling sites with different management groups, ordinary and sandy-textured, were selected and investigated for physical properties of soils such as Yamanaka hardness in April, non-submerged condition, before rice seedling transplanting. The plow pan appearing depth and thickness was determined by penetration resistance profile. Undisturbed core samples with five replicates were sampled at plow pan layerwith 2 inch cores for measuring soil bulk density and saturated hydraulic conductivity. The particle size distribution fractal dimension ($D_m$) was calculated by the method following the procedure Tylerand Wheacraft (1992), using the USDA-based particle size analysis datawith fractions of 0-0.002, 0.002-0.053, 0.053-0.1, 0.1-0.25, 0.25-0.5, 0.5-1.0, and 1.0-2.0 mm. The plow pan of investigated fields appeared at a range from 5 to 30 cm depth, showing minimum value in sandy-textured management group and maximum value in ordinary management group. The thickness of plow pan were distributed from 5 to 17 cm, showing both minimum and maximum values in sandy-textured management group. Averagely, the plow appearing depth were deeper in ordinary management group than in sandy-textured management group, whereas the reverse in the thickness of plow pan. The particle size distribution fractal dimension ($D_m$) had higher value with finer textures, with higher fractality in coarser texture. Saturated hydraulic conductivities, $K_s$, of plow pan soils distributed from 0.5 to 1420 mm $day^{-1}$, having the highest value in sandy skeletal soils. The $K_s$ decreased with decreasing clay content and $D_m$, showing power function relationships. The coefficient of determination, $R^2$, of the fitted power functions were higher in $D_m$ as x-axis than in clay content. This means that $D_m$ could give us more effective estimation than clay content. Especially, sandy-textured paddy soils had higher $R^2$, compared to ordinary paddy soils. $K_s$ of relatively coarse-textured soils with less than 18%of clay content, therefore, was more dependent on particle size distribution than that of relatively fine-textured soils. From these results, it could be concluded that the fractal scaling gives us a unique quantity describing particle size distribution and then can be applied to estimate saturated hydraulic conductivity, especially more effective in coarse-textured soils.