SALINITY/Management 435

Mass EV (1990) Crop salt tolerance. In: Tanji KK (ed.) hydraulic conductivity of soils. Australian Journal of
Agriculture Salinity Assessment and Management, Soil Research 39: 1279–1291.
pp. 262–304. New York: American Society of Civil Suarez DL, Wood JD, and Abrahim I (1992) Reevaluation
Engineers. of calcite supersaturation in soils. Soil Science Society of
Oster JD, Shainberg I, and Abrol IP (1996) Reclamation of America Journal 56: 1776–1784.
salt affected soils. In: Agassi M (ed.) Soil Erosion Con- Sumner ME, Rengasamy P, and Naidu R (1998) Sodic soils:
servation and Rehabilitation, pp. 315–342. New York: a reappraisal. In: Sumner ME and Naidu R (eds) Sodic
Marcel Dekker. Soils, pp. 3–17. New York: Oxford University Press.
Shainberg I and Letey J (1984) Response of soils to saline US Salinity Laboratory Staff (1954) Diagnosis and Im-
and sodic conditions. Hilgardia 52: 1–57. provement of Saline and Alkali Soils. Agricultural Hand-
Shainberg I, Levy GJ, Goldstein D, Mamedov A, and Letey book No. 60, USDA. Washington, DC: US Government
J (2001) Prewetting rate and sodicity effects on the Printing Office.

SALINITY

Contents
Management
Physical Effects

Management much as 3 000 kg salts ha
1 per year!) Crop plants

normally extract water from the soil while leaving
D Hillel, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA most of the salt behind. Unless leached away (con-
ß 2005, Elsevier Ltd. All Rights Reserved. tinuously or intermittently), such salts sooner or later
begin to hinder crop growth. Where internal drain-
age is impeded, attempts to leach the soil can do
Natural and Induced Soil Salinity
more harm than good, by raising the water table,
The term ‘salinity’ refers to the presence in soil and waterlogging the soil, and causing capillary rise to
water of electrolytic mineral solutes in concentrations the surface, where evaporation infuses the topsoil
that are harmful to many agricultural crops. Except with cumulative quantities of salt.
along seashores, saline soils seldom occur in humid Overall salinity is generally expressed in terms of
regions, thanks to the net downward percolation of the total dissolved solutes (TDS) in milligrams per liter
fresh water though the soil profile, brought about by of solution (approximately equivalent to parts per
the excess of rainfall compared with evapotranspira- million, ppm). Salinity may also be characterized by
tion. In arid regions, on the other hand, there may be measuring the electrical conductivity (EC) of the so-
periods of no net downward percolation and hence lution, generally expressible in terms of decisiemens
no effective leaching, so salts can accumulate in the per meter (dS m
1).
soil. Hence the combined effect of meager rainfall, Quantitative criteria for diagnosing soil salinity
high evaporation, the presence of salt-bearing sedi- were originally formulated by the US Salinity Labora-
ments, and – in many places, particularly river valleys tory at Riverside, California (in its Handbook 60,
and other low-lying areas – the occurrence of shallow, first issued in 1954), in terms of the EC of the soil’s
brackish groundwater which gives rise to saline soils. saturation extract (i.e., the solution extracted from a
Less obvious than the appearance of naturally soil sample that had been presaturated with water).
saline soils, but perhaps more insidious, is the inad- Those criteria are still in wide use today. Accordingly,
vertent induced salination of originally productive a saline soil has been defined as having an EC of more
soils, caused by human intervention. Irrigation waters than 4 dS m
1. This value generally corresponds to
generally contain appreciable quantities of salts. (For approximately 40 mmol salt l
1. In the case of a
example: Even with relatively good-quality irrigation sodium chloride solution, this equals about 2.4 g l
1.
water containing no more than 0.3 kg salts m
3, ap- The clay fraction in saline soils is generally well
plying 10 000 mm water per season would add as flocculated. As the salts are leached, however, the
436 SALINITY/Management

Figure 1 The process of waterlogging and salination. Reproduced with permission from Hillel D (1998) Environmental Soil
Physics, Elsevier.

flocs may tend to disperse and the soil aggregates to Among the various inputs of salts listed above,
break down (or slake). This especially occurs where irrigation water often plays a major role. The quality
an appreciable concentration of sodium is adsorbed of irrigation water may affect soil salinity and sodicity,
on to the clay particles. The tendency for flocs to cation exchange, soil acidity or alkalinity, nutrient
disperse and for aggregates to slake and collapse availability, clay dispersion and flocculation, as well
results in the deterioration of soil structure by the as soil structure, infiltration, and aeration. Clearly,
clogging of large pores in the soil, and consequently therefore, the composition of irrigation water is an
in the reduction of soil permeability. This leads to the important determinant of soil productivity, crop
associated phenomenon of soil sodicity, also known growth, and agricultural drainage quality. The hazard
as alkalinity (Figure 1). posed by irrigation water containing salts of varying
composition and concentration depends on soil con-
ditions, climatic conditions, crop species and variety,
Irrigation Water Quality
and the amount and frequency of the irrigation
Solutes can be added to the soil solution in rainfall applied. In general, irrigation water of EC less than
(especially along seacoasts, where sea spray mixes with 0.7 dS m
1 poses little or no danger to most crops,
the rain) or in irrigation water infiltrated from above, in whereas EC values more than 3.0 dS m
1 may restrict
groundwater rising by capillarity from below, in the the growth of most crops. The major components of
dissolution of salts initially present in solid form within salinity are the cations Ca, Mg, and Na, and the
the soil and subsoil, and in the artificial application of anions Cl, SO4, and HCO3. The potassium, nitrate,
agricultural chemicals (e.g., fertilizers, pesticides, and and phosphate ions, though important nutritionally,
soil amendments). Methods for removal of solutes from are usually minor components of soil salinity. In ad-
the soil include uptake by plants (generally of minor dition, certain constituents (such as boron) may have
importance), downward transport by percolation and an important effect on crop growth even though
drainage (leaching), erosion of the soil surface by over- their concentrations are usually too low to have any
land flow and by wind, precipitation or adsorption substantial effect on the soil’s total salinity.
on to the solid phase and conversion to insoluble Irrigation waters of different sources, locations,
or unavailable forms, and – for some substances – and seasons vary greatly in quality (Table 1). Some
volatilization of gaseous compounds. To avoid the ac- irrigation waters contain as little as 50 g salts m
3,
cumulation of salts to toxic levels, their inputs to the and others as much as 3000 g salts m
3. Since the
soil must not exceed the rate of their removal from the volume of water applied in irrigation to a crop during
soil or their conversion to unavailable forms within it. its growing season commonly varies between 5000
The control of soil salinity must therefore include meas- and 20 000 m
3 ha
1, the salt input to a crop may
ures to control both the inputs and the outputs of salts. range between 250 and 60 000 kg ha
1.
 SALINITY/Management 437

Table 1 Classification of water quality according to total salt concentration

Designation Total dissolved salts (ppm) EC (dS m
1) Category

Fresh water <500 <0.6 Drinking and irrigation

Slightly brackish 500–1 000 0.6–1.5 Irrigation
Brackish 1 000–2 000 1.5–3 Irrigation with caution
Moderately saline 2 000–5 000 3–8 Primary drainage
Saline 5 000–10 000 8–15 Secondary drainage and saline groundwater
Highly saline 10 000–35 000 15–45 Very saline groundwater
Brine >35 000 >45 Seawater

Figure 2 Effects of salinity and sodicity on plants.

Another important criterion of irrigation water In certain circumstances and with appropriate
quality is the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR). High precautions, brackish water may safely be used for
alkalinity of irrigation water, manifested when the the irrigation of salt-tolerant crops. This includes the
pH value is more than 8.5, generally indicates the secondary use, or reuse, of drainage waters. Espe-
predominant presence of sodium ions (often asso- cially suitable for this purpose are deep sandy soils
ciated with the bicarbonate anion) and poses a danger that are prevalent in some arid regions, where internal
of soil sodification. Freshly pumped groundwater drainage is unrestricted and there is little risk of
may have a high SAR even if the pH is less than either groundwater rise or of soil salination and
8.5, owing to the presence of dissolved CO2 (samples sodification.
of such water should be aerated to allow the The use of brackish water for sprinkling irrigation,
carbon dioxide to effervesce prior to measurement however, may cause foliar injury. The degree of injury
of the pH). depends on the following factors: concentrations of
With high-SAR water, irrigation by sprinkling will ions in the water, sensitivity of the crop at various
increase the soil’s tendency to form a surface seal growth stages, water stress of the plants prior to
(crust) under the impact of the drops striking the irrigation, and frequency of irrigation. The potential
bare soil. Flood irrigation may also cause the break- damage also depends on the prevailing environmental
down of soil aggregates by air slaking. On the other conditions, including the temperature and relative
hand, application of water by drip irrigation at humidity of the atmosphere, which affect the rate
spaced points on the surface or below it, may lessen of evaporation. Sprinkling at night, when the atmo-
the physical disruption of soil structure that would spheric temperature and evaporativity are relatively
otherwise take place under the influence of high-SAR low, can reduce foliar absorption and injury.
water. High-pH water may cause nutritional as well The greater the rate of evapotranspiration and the
as structural problems. The addition of gypsum to longer the interval between irrigations, the more con-
the water or to the soil surface may help in both centrated the residual solution in the root zone and
respects, by promoting the flocculation of clay and the more severe the salt stress imposed on the plants
the nutritional balance of the soil solution. (Figure 2). Hence, when irrigation water is brackish,
438 SALINITY/Management

a common management strategy is to increase the The removal of free water tending to accumulate over
frequency of irrigation so as to maintain a high con- the soil surface by appropriately shaping the land
tent of water and to prevent the rise of salt concen- is termed ‘surface drainage’ and is outside the scope
tration in the root zone. Thanks to its ready of this article. Finally, ‘groundwater drainage’ refers
adaptability to high-frequency irrigation, drip irriga- to the outflow or artificial removal of excess water
tion beneath the canopy appears to be the most ap- from within the soil, generally lowering the water
propriate method to use with brackish water, table or preventing its rise.
especially as it avoids direct foliar exposure to saline In waterlogged soils, gas exchange with the atmo-
water. sphere is restricted to the surface zone, while, within
Brackish drainage water may also be used in a the profile, oxygen may be almost totally absent and
system of agroforestry. Salt-tolerant trees are capable carbon dioxide may accumulate. Under anaerobic
of thriving when irrigated with brackish water, and conditions, various substances are reduced chem-
also of lowering the water table by the extraction and ically from their normally oxidized state. Toxic con-
transpiration of water from deeper layers in the soil, centrations of ferrous, sulfide, and manganous ions
thus reducing the volume and expense of needed can develop. These, in combination with products of
drainage in some areas. Among the trees suitable for the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter (e.g.,
this type of agroforestry and biodrainage are certain methane) can greatly inhibit plant growth. At the
species of eucalyptus, acacia, casuarina, poplar, mes- same time, nitrification is prevented, and various
quite, and tamarisk. The harvested wood may be used plant and root diseases (especially fungal) are more
for fuel, pulp, or construction. prevalent. High-moisture conditions at or near the
The use of drainage wastewater entails certain dis- soil surface make the soil susceptible to compaction
tinct hazards. In some places, the concentration of and puddling by animal and machinery traffic. Ne-
nitrates may become excessive, and contribute to cessary operations (e.g., tillage, planting, spraying,
groundwater and surface-water contamination. Heavy and harvesting) are thwarted by poor trafficability
metals and various other toxic materials can pose a (i.e., the ability of the ground to support vehicular
problem. They tend to accumulate in the soil and traffic). Furthermore, the surface zone of a wet soil
thence enter the biological food chain. Especially does not warm up readily at springtime, owing to
hazardous are industrial waste products that may be greater thermal inertia and downward conduction,
carcinogenic as well as toxic. and to loss of latent heat by the higher evaporation
rate. Consequently, germination and early seedling
growth are retarded. All these phenomena are in add-
Groundwater Drainage
ition to the tendency of waterlogged soils, especially
The presence of a high water table can be either a in arid areas, to become saline.
blessing or a curse. The blessing occurs when, in The artificial drainage of groundwater is generally
periods of low rainfall or deficiency of water for carried out by means of drains, which may be ditches,
irrigation, upward capillary flow from the water pipes, or ‘mole channels,’ into which groundwater
table augments the water supply to the roots. The flows as a result of the hydraulic gradients existing in
curse occurs as the rising water brings up salts from the soil. The drains themselves are made to direct the
below and thereby salinizes the root zone. In the field, water, by gravity or by pumping, to the drainage
upward capillary rise and downward percolation may outlet, which may be a stream, a lake, an evaporation
take place alternately during the year. Percolation pond, or the sea. In some places, drainage water may
occurs typically during the rainy and early irrigation be recycled or reused for agricultural, industrial, or
seasons, when the water requirements of the crop are residential purposes, as well as for agroforestry or the
relatively low and the water supply from above is irrigation of ornamental plants. Because drainage
high. On the other hand, upward flow takes place water may contain potentially harmful concentrations
later in the irrigation season, when the water require- of salts, fertilizer nutrients, pesticide residues, and
ments are high and both rainfall and irrigation are various other toxic chemicals, as well as biological
restricted. Over the long term, a net downward pathogens, it is not enough to provide means to ‘get
flow of salt-bearing water through the root zone is rid’ of it; attention must be devoted to the quality of
essential to sustainable productivity. the water to be disposed of and to the long-term
The term ‘drainage’ can be used in a general sense consequences of its disposal.
to denote outflow of water from soil. More specifi- The disposal of salt-bearing effluent may pose a
cally, it can serve to describe the artificial removal danger to rivers and to groundwater. If the drainage
of excess water, or the set of management practices water is returned to a river or an aquifer serving as a
designed to prevent the occurrence of excess water. water source, or if the drainage is to be reused directly,
 SALINITY/Management 439

Table 2 Prevalent depths and spacing of drainage pipes in amount greater than evapotranspiration, so as delib-
different soil types erately to cause a fraction of the applied water to flow
Hydraulic through the root zone and flush away the excess salts.
conductivity Spacing of Depth of However, unless the water table is very deep or lateral
Soil type (m day
1) drains (m) drains (m) groundwater drainage is sufficiently rapid, the extra
Clay 1.5 10–20 1–1.5 irrigation can cause a progressive rise of the water
Clay loam 1.5–5 15–25 1–1.5 table. Therefore, the amount of water applied must
Loam 5–20 20–35 1–1.5 be optimized to allow leaching without water-table
Fine, sandy 20–65 30–40 1–1.5 rise. The concept of ‘leaching requirement’ was first
loam
Sandy loam 65–125 30–70 1–2
developed by the US Salinity Laboratory in Riverside,
Peat 125–250 30–100 1–2 California. It has been defined as the fraction of the
irrigation water that must be percolated out of
Reproduced with permission from Hillel D (1998) Environmental Soil
Physics, Elsevier.
the bottom of the root zone in order to prevent aver-
age soil salinity from rising above some specifiable
level.
its load of corrosive salts and other pollutants may According to the standards developed there, the
affect downstream agriculture, households, water maximum concentration of the soil solution in the
utilities, and industry. Where persistent pesticides root zone, expressed in terms of EC, should be kept
are applied to irrigated land, their residues can cause below 4 dS m
1 for sensitive crops. Salt-tolerant crops
further damage to biotic communities in riverine, such as beets, alfalfa, and cotton may give satisfactory
estuarine, and lacustrine habitats, as well as to public yields at values up to 8 dS m
1. The problem encoun-
health. Construction of evaporation ponds for dis- tered in any attempt to apply such a simplistic criter-
posal of drainage water generally requires the alloca- ion is that in the field (unlike the case of plants grown
tion of approximately 10% of the land area. Care in solution culture or in small containers) the concen-
must also be taken to avoid leaks and consequent tration of the soil solution varies greatly in space and
salination of the underlying groundwater. The loss time. In addition, the sensitivity of any crop to salinity
of potentially valuable land, the costs of construction depends on its stage of growth and on such variables
and conveyance, and the environmental impacts may as ambient temperature, atmospheric humidity, soil
make such ponds impractical in some cases. matric suction, and nutrient availability.
Various equations, empirically or theoretically The leaching requirement depends on the salt con-
based, have been proposed for determining the desir- centration and composition of the irrigation water,
able depths and spacings of drain pipes or ditches in on the amount of water extracted from the soil by
different soil and groundwater conditions. In the the crop, and on the salt tolerance of the crop,
Netherlands, the country with the most experience in which determines the maximum allowable concen-
drainage, common criteria for drainage are to provide tration of the soil solution in the root zone. Assuming
for the removal of approximately 7 mm per day, and steady-state conditions of throughflow (thus disre-
to prevent a water table from rising above a depth of garding short-term fluctuations in soil-moisture con-
0.5 m from the soil surface. In more arid regions, tent, flux, and salinity), and furthermore assuming no
because of the greater evaporation rate and ground- appreciable dissolution or precipitation of salts in the
water salinity, the water table must generally be kept soil and no significant removal of salts by the crop or
much deeper. In the Imperial Valley of California, for capillary rise of salt-bearing water from below, the
instance, the drain depth ranges from approximately following simple equation is obtained:
1.5 to 3 m, and the desired water table depth midway
between drains is at least 1.2 m. For medium- and Vd =Vi ¼ ci =cd ½1
fine-textured soils, the depth should be even greater
where the salinity risk is high. Since there is a prac- in which Vd and Vi are the volumes of drainage and of
tical limit to the depth of drain placement, it is the irrigation, respectively, and cd and ci are the corres-
density of drain spacing that must be increased under ponding concentrations of salt. Water volumes are
such circumstances (Table 2). normally expressed per unit area of land as equivalent
depths of water, and salt concentrations are generally
measured and reported in terms of EC. Because the
Leaching Processes
volume of water drained is the difference between
To prevent salts from accumulating in the root zone the volumes of irrigation and evapotranspiration
during repeated cycles of irrigation and evapotrans- (i.e., Vd ¼ Vi
Vet), we can transform the last
piration, the obvious remedy is to apply water in an equation as follows:
440 SALINITY/Management

Vi ¼ ½cd =ðcd
ci ÞVet ½2 the soil never becomes saturated, so a greater portion of
the applied water moves through the soil matrix, thus
This is equivalent to the formulation given in the US producing more efficient leaching per unit volume of
Salinity Laboratory’s Department of Agriculture water infiltrated. However, the processes of infiltration
(USDA) Handbook No. 60: and unsaturated flow under low-intensity sprinkling
are inherently slower and require more time than
di ¼ ½Ed =ðEd
Ei Þ=det ½3 saturated infiltration under ponding.
Nonuniformity of irrigation as well as of soil is a
where di is the depth of irrigation, det the equivalent complicating factor. If the leaching requirement is
depth of ‘consumptive use’ by the crop (evapo- not met throughout the field, soil salinity will prevail
transpiration), and Ed and Ei are the electrical con- in spots, wherever leaching is insufficient. Whether
ductivities of the drainage and irrigation waters, to apply copious amounts of water to the entire field
respectively. so as to ensure that the leaching requirement is met
The leaching requirement equation implies that, everywhere, or to accept some reduction in yield in
by varying the fraction of applied water percolated parts of the field, must be determined from an eco-
through the root zone, it is possible to control the nomic analysis of costs and benefits. Such an analy-
concentration of salt in the drainage water and sis should take into consideration the danger that
hence to maintain the concentration of the soil solu- saline spots might recur (and perhaps even grow in
tion in the main part of the root zone at some extent and severity) from year to year. One answer is
intermediate level between ci and cd. However, the to apply extra water preferentially to the spots that
leaching requirement concept disregards the distribu- need it most, but such a strategy requires a flexible
tion of salts within the root zone itself, as it is affected irrigation system that would allow controlled vari-
by the frequency and spatial variability of irrigation, ability of water delivery. Although such a specialized
as well as by its quantity and water quality. In par- irrigation system is likely to be expensive to install and
ticular, the variation of root-zone salinity is affected operate, it may well be worthwhile in the long run.
by the pattern and degree of soil moisture depletion
between irrigations. The less frequent the irrigation
Soil Amendments
regime, the greater the buildup of salt between
successive irrigations. In some cases, the commonly The leaching process is enhanced if the applied water
recommended leaching fraction may not be sufficient contains a sufficient concentration of electrolytes to
to prevent the reduction of yield below its potential, reduce swelling and dispersion of clay in the soil.
especially if the climatically imposed evaporation rate Where leaching occurs with water of very low salinity
is high and the irrigation water is brackish. (e.g., rainwater), soil permeability can be increased by
With modern methods of high-frequency irriga- the surface application of a slowly soluble electrolytic
tion, it is possible to maintain the soil solution in the salt – preferably a substance containing a divalent
surface zone at a concentration nearly equal to that of cation such as calcium, to prevent the sodium ion
the irrigation water. This zone can be deepened by from dispersing the clay. Such materials, commonly
increasing the volume of water applied. Beyond this known as soil amendments, can replace exchangeable
zone, the salt concentration of the soil solution in- sodium with flocculation-promoting divalent ions.
creases with depth to a salinity level depending on the The most commonly considered soil amendment
leaching fraction. High-frequency irrigation not only for the purpose of improving the structure and the
lowers the concentration of the soil solution in the permeability of soils, especially those prone to be-
upper zone (where most roots proliferate), but also coming sodic, are dihydrate calcium sulfate (gypsum)
tends to minimize the matric suction of soil moisture. and dihydrate calcium chloride. Gypsum is generally
Extensive research has shown that leaching soils at a the preferred soil amendment, thanks to its ready
water content below saturation (e.g., under low-inten- availability in many places and to its relatively low
sity sprinkling or intermittent ponding) can produce cost. It may be derived from mining or be available
more efficient leaching that can be achieved by the as a by-product of the phosphate-fertilizer industry.
once-standard method of continuous flooding. In a The solubility of pure gypsum is approximately
soil with macropores – cracks, wormholes, or decayed 2.15–2.63 kg m
3, depending somewhat on tempera-
root channels – much of the water under ponding ture. Applied gypsum dissolves in the soil solution
moves rapidly down those large passageways, bypass- until its solubility limit is reached or until its supply
ing the greater volume of the soil containing the salt, so is exhausted. The rate of dissolution of applied gyp-
it is largely ineffective in leaching the micropores of the sum depends on its source and degree of granulation.
soil matrix. In contrast, under low-intensity sprinkling, Industrial gypsum generally dissolves more rapidly
 SALINITY/Management 441

than mined gypsum, which generally contains impu- stress eventually exhibit stunted growth, smaller
rities. The amount of gypsum needed to replace leaves than normal, and discoloration. Such symp-
the exchangeable sodium depends on the initial ex- toms first occur in spots, rather than uniformly over
changeable sodium percentage, the soil’s total cation the field. Since factors other than salinity (e.g., water
exchange capacity, its bulk density, and the depth of stress, nutrient deficiencies, or misapplied pesticides)
the soil to be treated effectively. If elemental sulfur is may produce similar symptoms, visually observed in-
added to a sodic soil in lieu of gypsum, it must be dications of apparent salinity should be checked by
oxidized in situ to become effective. Upon oxidation, chemical analyses of soil, plant, and water samples.
it forms sulfuric acid, which then reacts with lime in One good way to detect the early appearance of salin-
the soil to produce gypsum. ity is to place plants that are known to be particularly
salt-sensitive at regularly spaced intervals throughout
the irrigated area. Such interspersed detector plants
Early-Warning Systems
may reveal early symptoms of physiological stress
In many cases, irrigation systems are organized and and thus provide a timely warning of problems that
irrigation is begun long before drainage is installed. are likely to be exacerbated over time.
Indeed, an irrigation project can often function unim- An important indicator of the salinity hazard is the
peded for years, even decades, without artificial depth of the water table. There is cause for concern
drainage. In some cases, the land is so well drained whenever it approaches within 1.5–2 m of the soil
naturally that irrigation can thus be continued for a surface. Hence the water table should be monitored
very long time. However, far more typically, the pro- regularly by means of observation wells and piezo-
cesses of groundwater rise and salt accumulation pro- meters (Figures 3 and 4). Both are vertical tubes that
ceed inexorably, so that sooner or later (especially
in ill-drained river valleys, where most irrigation de-
velopment takes place) the provision of artificial
drainage becomes essential.
Granted that a drainage system must be planned in
advance at the very outset of an irrigation project, the
crucial question is when to begin installing and oper-
ating it. If installed too early, the drainage system
may lie unused for some time and therefore be both
unnecessary and uneconomical, and it may deterior-
ate in the interim before it comes into use. On the
other hand, if installed after waterlogging and salina- Figure 3 Observation wells to determine elevation of the water
tion have advanced, it may be too late to restore table. Reproduced with permission from Hillel D (1998) Environ-
productivity economically. These considerations em- mental Soil Physics, Elsevier.
phasize the importance of having an early-warning
system to indicate, before the problem becomes
acute, that soil salination is incipient and that the
need for drainage is imminent. Soil salinity is normally
monitored by a combination of soil sampling, soil-
solution sampling by vacuum extraction, and in situ
salt sensors. Mobile devices with combined electro-
magnetic induction and four-electrode soil conductiv-
ity sensing systems are now under development for
monitoring and mapping the distribution of soil salin-
ity over an entire field, but such instruments have not
yet entered into general use.
The detection and diagnosis of salinity are difficult
in the early stages of its occurrence. Visual inspection
of the soil surface may be misleading. For example, the
white precipitate formed on the surface of furrow-
irrigated or drip-irrigated soil may be due to relatively
harmless calcite or gypsum. Visual inspection of crops Figure 4 Piezometers to determine vertical pressure gradients
provides obvious clues to salt stress only after the below the water table. Reproduced with permission from Hillel D
condition is well advanced. Crop plants suffering salt (1998) Environmental Soil Physics, Elsevier.
442 SALINITY/Physical Effects

are inserted into the soil to a depth far below the Tanji KK (ed.) (1990) Agricultural Salinity Assessment
water table. The difference is that an observation and Management. New York: American Society of
well is perforated to permit free inflow of ground- Civil Engineers.
water along the length of the tube below the water Yaron D (ed.) (1981) Salinity in Irrigation and Water
Resources. New York: Marcel Dekker.
table; in contrast, a piezometer’s only opening is at the
bottom. Hence a piezometer indicates the hydraulic
head (pressure) of the water at the bottom of the tube,
rather than the position of the water table. Several
piezometers, inserted side by side to different depths, Physical Effects
can indicate the vertical gradient of the hydraulic
head below the water table. The direction and magni- D Russo, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel
tude of that gradient are indicative of the tendency of ß 2005, Elsevier Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
the groundwater to rise or fall.

Introduction
See also: Solute Transport
Environmental control and agricultural manage-
ment problems involve the simultaneous transport
Further Reading of water and mixed salts solutions with ions that
Bresler E, McNeal BL, and Carter DL (1982) Saline interact with the soil matrix. The soil solution–soil
and Sodic Soils: Principles–Dynamics–Modeling. Berlin, matrix interactions include phenomena such as cation
Germany: Springer-Verlag. exchange, anion exclusion, precipitation and dissol-
Dinar A and Zilberman D (eds) (1991) The Economics and ution, swelling and reorganization of the soil colloid
Management of Water and Drainage in Agriculture. structures, and, concurrently, rearrangement of the
Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic. soil pore-size distribution; the latter can affect
Hanks RJ (1984) Predictions of crop yield and water
the soil hydraulic conductivity and retentivity. These
consumption under saline conditions. In: Soil Salinity
Under Irrigation. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag.
interactions, therefore, may considerably affect water
Hillel D (2000) Salinity Management for Sustainable flow and solute transport.
Irrigation: Integrating Science, Environment, and The magnitude of the soil solution–soil matrix
Economics. Washington, DC: The World Bank. interactions depends to a large extent upon the types
Hoffman GJ (1990) Leaching fraction and root zone salin- and amounts of inorganic and organic soil colloids.
ity control. In: Agricultural Salinity Assessment and Among soil mineral colloids, the most reactive
Management. New York: American Society of Civil constituents are the smectite minerals (e.g., montmor-
Engineers. illonite, beidellite, monronite), characterized by dioc-
Keren R and Miyamoto S (1990) Reclamation of saline, tahedral structure. The presence of these minerals
sodic, and boron-affected soils. In: Soil Salinity Under imparts a considerable cation exchange capacity
Irrigation. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag.
and/or specific surface area to soils from arid and
Lauchli, A and Epstein E (1990). Plant responses to saline
and sodic conditions. In: Agricultural Salinity Assess-
semiarid regions. Furthermore, the smectite minerals
ment and Management, pp. 113–137. New York: are capable of considerable expansion at moderate-
American Society of Civil Engineers. to-high exchangeable sodium levels in the presence
Massoud FI (1981) Salt-Affected Soils at a Global Scale of relatively low salt soil-solution concentration.
and Concepts for Control. Rome, Italy: FAO Land and Hence, they can impart rather substantial salinity-
Water Development Division. dependent water retention and conductivity changes
Oster JD and Frenkel H (1980) The chemistry of the rec- to soils, and, concurrently, may considerably affect
lamation of sodic soils with gypsum and lime. Soil water flow and solute transport.
Science Society of America Journal 44: 41–45. Here the emphasis is on the effect of salinity on soil
Rhoades JD, Chanduvi F, and Lesch SM (1999) Soil physical properties relevant to water flow and solute
Salinity Assessment Methods and Interpretation of
transport, in particular, soil water retentivity and
Electrical conductivity Measurements. FAO Irrigation
and Drainage Paper 57. Rome, Italy: FAO Land and
conductivity.
Water Development Division.
Richards LA (ed.) (1954) Diagnosis and Improvement Water Retention and Swelling in
of Saline and Alkali Soils. USDA Handbook Salt-Affected Soils
No. 60. Washington, DC: US Government Printing
Office. The amount of water retained by the soil depends
Shainberg I and Shalhevet J (eds) (1984) Soil Salinity Under largely upon the mineral and organic colloid contents
Irrigation. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag. of the soil, although the structural arrangement of soil