Soil Salinity - Causes of Soil Salinity

Causes of Soil Salinity

Salt-affected soils are caused by excess accumulation of salts, typically most pronounced at the soil surface. Salts can be transported to the soil surface by capillary transport from a salt laden water table and then accumulate due to evaporation. They can also be concentrated in soils due to human activity, for example the use of potassium as fertilizer, which can form sylvite, a naturally occurring salt. As soil salinity increases, salt effects can result in degradation of soils and vegetation.

Salinization is a process that results from:

• high levels of salt in the water.
• landscape features that allow salts to become mobile(movement of water table).
• climatic trends that favour accumulation.
• human activities such as land clearing, aquaculture activities and the salting of icy roads.