The formation of Pareto distribution in tracer systems on the water surface

We experimentally studied a clusterization process in a system of polyamide tracers that are used for visualizing the flow of liquids on their surface. It was shown that in a surface structure system appearing on the water surface a Pareto distribution is formed for normalized cluster density and it is well described by a C∕x−n power-law function. One can suggest that the growth of a surface structure is defined by the action of surface tension forces, and the number of surface structures decreases exponentially, while maintaining their total surface area. We show experimentally the significant role of background liquid flows on the surface in the clusterization process. •The interaction of particles on the water surface is provided by capillary forces.•The growth of large-scale structures is observed experimentally.•A Pareto distribution is formed in the cluster system.•The maximum cluster size is limited by random fluid flows.