Abstract:Based on the measurement of two hundred and eighty four soil samples taken in grid patterns of three different scales (with intervals of 50 m, 5 m and 0.5 m separately between sampling points) in a saline-alkaline field in Manasi County, Xinjiang, spatial patterns of soil water repellency and soil physical-chemical properties were analyzed by means of classical statistics, spatial autocorrelation theory, geostatistics and fractal theory. Results indicate that 1)both soil water repellency and pH followed a normal distribution while the other soil properties a lognormal distribution, and most of the soil properties studied varied to a moderate degree regardless of scales; 2)Moran’s I coefficients of all the soil properties were quite similar in variation, which ranged from -0.8 to 0.6 at all the three scales; 3)most semi-variance theoretical models of the soil properties could be fit with spherical models at all the three scales; and 4)within a certain range, the soil properties showed fractal features, and their fractal dimensions varied in the range from 1.75 to 1.96. The findings indicate that soil water repellency and soil physical-chemical properties are somewhat different in spatial distribution at different scales.