Soil Pore Image Analysis: Methodological Issues in 2D Image Acquisition

The application of image analysis techniques to study the soil structure has become an indispensable tool for research in soil science. The stage of image acquisition is one of the most delicate and critical to achieve a standardization of the entire soil image analysis process. The objective of this work is then to provide a contribution towards the standardization of soil pore image analysis by means of specific tests performed using soil samples characterized by different structure, in order to analyse the effect of the variation of resolution at the acquisition stage on the results of some pore image analysis (i.e.: pore size distribution) and in order to evaluate a relationship between the REA identified with respect to the total porosity and the soil structure