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Salinization of Soils in the Don Valley under Conditions of Terminated Irrigation

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Abstract

This article presents a study for the identification of the current salt state of the soils of the General Irrigation System built near the Tsimlyansk reservoir in 1959 in the dry-steppe zone of Volgograd oblast in the Don Valley. The system is currently in a 30-year irrigation shutdown period. In the interpolation study, soil-salinity maps that cover different soil depths were constructed. They are based on field surveys and water-extract data (1 : 5) from soil samples taken in 2020. Water-extract data obtained at the Volgograd Hydrogeological and Land Reclamation Expedition in 2018 were also used. The key area of study was located on the second floodplain left-bank terrace of the Don River and included a territory in which a high groundwater level (1.5–3 m) with strong mineralization (3–10 g/L) formed by the beginning of the 1990s during a long period of irrigation. This led to the formation of a meadow solonchak and secondary saline soils with a high degree of salinity, which prompted us to map the salinity of soils in this area and to determine the changes over the past period. Analysis of the soil-salinity maps made it possible to assess the current salt state of soils located on various relief elements of the second terrace of the Don River and to compare the current salt state of soils with the period of the late 1980s–early 1990s, which showed a gradual desalinization of previously saline areas and the development of alkalization of the upper soil horizons. The desalinization was caused by the cessation of irrigation, and alkalization was caused by the location of the general system in the solonetz zone, the long period of irrigation from 1960 to 1992, and irrigation from the Tsimlyansk reservoir with water with a high sodium concentration. Salinity maps showing the depth of the salt horizon provide information necessary for the development and selection of optimal reclamation measures to restore the soil fertility. Preliminary recommendations for the solution of this problem upon the resumption of can include quality control of the irrigation water, the use of periodic (once every several years) water-charging spring washing of the 0- to 70-cm layer to push accumulated salts out of the aeration zone, gypsum to ensure the displacement of exchangeable sodium, suppression of the alkalinity and the removal of water-soluble sodium to the underlying horizons beyond the root layer, the use of drip irrigation, and an increase in the share of perennial legumes and cereals in the structure of sown areas. The article also shows that the spectral indices given in the literature cannot be used to determine the soil salinity from space information in relation to the selected study area. This was confirmed with multiple regression analysis, in which the values of the spectral indices in four image channels from the Sentinel-2 satellite and the salinity values of different soil horizons at the sampling points obtained as a result of field and laboratory work were used as features. According to the results of regression analysis, no significant relationship between the spectral indices and salinity values was revealed in any soil horizon. The resulting correlation coefficients were less than 0.5, and, hence, the relationship was very low.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors express their gratitude to the employees of the Volgograd Hydrogeological and Reclamation Expedition for the data provided for the work.

Funding

The work was carried out on the topics of state assignments no. 0591-2019-0023 “To study the impact of natural conditions and land-use patterns on the soil cover, including the participation of saline solonetzic and slitized soils, and to develop a technology for assessment of the intensity of the exploitation of soils of agricultural land,” and no. АААА-А19-119012390065-9, “The development of methods for the analysis and integrated use of Earth remote-sensing data based on modern geoinformation technologies for the monitoring of natural landscapes of agricultural land with constellations of small spacecraft.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dokuchaev Soil Institute, 119017, Moscow, Russia

    I. N. Gorohova

  2. Scientific Geoinformation Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119019, Moscow, Russia

    I. N. Chursin

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  1. I. N. Gorohova
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  2. I. N. Chursin
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Correspondence to I. N. Gorohova or I. N. Chursin.

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Gorohova, I.N., Chursin, I.N. Salinization of Soils in the Don Valley under Conditions of Terminated Irrigation. Arid Ecosyst 12, 208–216 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096122020056

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