Abstract:Numerous studies have shown that soil particle size distribution (PSD),mass distribution,surface distribution and pore size distribution are fractals,which are generally described with fractal geometry.In this paper,the fractal properties of ten types of soils from loamy sand to clay were investigated with the method developed by Tyler and Wheatcraft (1992) un the basis of accumulative mass distribution of soil particles.Sieving data sets of the above mentioned ten soils were used to calculate fractal dimension which ranged from 2.489 to 2.896,and relationship between frac;tal dimension of PSD and soil texture was analyzed.Meanwhile the fractal dimension of PSD was compared with the fitted fractal dimension calculated from the calibration of the power-law expression of the corresponding soil water retention function developed with Monger sponge,and the mathematical relationship between them was therefore established.Results indicated that the fractal dimension of PSD increased with clay content but decreased with sand content, and the fractal dimension of PSD was approximately the same as and in linear relationship with the fractal dimension of the power-law expression for the soil water retention function.This implies that the soil water retention properties can be predicted by the power-law function in combination with the mass based fractal dimension of PSD.