Saline soils are difficult to cultivate soils, characterized by a high salt content in the upper levels. To improve them in the fall, it is necessary to carry out a special flushing.
Saline soil is a soil with a lot of soluble salts throughout its profile. In the upper layer of such soil, the salt content can reach 60 percent. The only plants that can grow in highly saline soil are halophytes.
How salt marshes are formed
Saline soils are formed under the influence of subsoil waters enriched with minerals or saline rocks. They are common in semi-deserts, deserts and southern steppes, where they can extend over vast areas.
In places of close occurrence of groundwater, under conditions of effusion regime, there is a strong evaporation of water from the soil surface. If the groundwater contains minerals, then after evaporation, salts are deposited in the capillaries of the soil. Over time, the percentage of their content increases. Sometimes salt marshes can form due to improper irrigation, mineralization of halophyte plants rich in sodium, chlorine and sulfur, salt deposition with the help of wind, etc.
What are saline soils
In appearance, salt marshes are divided into plump, black and wet. Plump salt marshes are characterized by a high content of sodium sulfate, due to which the topsoil becomes loose. Black salt marshes contain a lot of soda. This soil is poorly permeable to moisture; during irrigation, brown puddles form on it.
A characteristic feature of wet salt marshes is a dark, hard crust on the surface, under which there is a layer of waterlogged soil. In such a salt marsh, a high content of calcium chloride and magnesium, due to their ability to absorb water vapor from the air, the soil is saturated with moisture.
Saline soils and agriculture
A solution of salts, which are rich in salt marshes, prevents the supply of nutrients to the roots of plants. In the spring, such soil does not dry out for a long time, but when it dries, it becomes covered with a hard crust and becomes extremely difficult to process. On highly saline soils, the crop may not grow at all or die.
To improve saline soils, it is necessary to carry out reclamation, that is, washing the soil from salts. Land reclamation is usually carried out in autumn, from September to December. It is advisable that after flushing the salt water is flushed from the site to another location.
For reclamation, a well-dug area is divided into sectors of 10-20 square meters, then they are surrounded by bulk rollers and filled with water. Reclamation will be effective if the site has good natural drainage, otherwise the brine will simply sink deeper into the soil and may rise again over time.
