Salinization
Saline soils form when the water leaves the ground mainly due to evaporation, transpiration, or percolation. This mainly occurs in dry areas, where precipitations are not sufficient to eliminate the salt from the ground. However, salinization is also frequent on irrigated grounds. If irrigation (which is fundamentally important in dry regions) is not done in a functional way, or with appropriate water, it can provoke an accumulation of salt (in particular chloride and sodium sulphate) that reduces the ability of plants to absorb nutritional elements from the roots, therefore making the soil sterile. The reclamation of saline soil is apparently a very simple process, as the salts can be removed with water. But before irrigating, it is necessary to increase the soil permeability, by increasing its porosity (pore number and dimension), in order to favour the passage of water and eliminate excessive salts. In nature some vegetal species tolerate salinity, as they are able to survive or produce (if they are very tolerant) even if there is an excessive quantity of salt in the soil.
Special reports
-
13 May 2013
Small steps, great footprints
Have you ever wondered how much space is taken up by an apple or a steak?...
-
28 August 2020
The Earth seen from above: signs of fires
This image was taken by the ASTER sensor installed on the NASA TERRA satellite platform. The image was taken on…
15 July 2020
Earth viewed from above
Remote satellite sensing: what it is and what it is used for In the scientific field, the images produced by…
-
30 April 2019
Urban woods
When walking along a tree-lined avenue in a crowded and traffic-congested city, wrapped up in our daily commitments, we do…
12 April 2019
Easter with extinct friends
Easter Island is shaped like a triangle with three extinct volcanoes placed at the vertices, and has a total area…
26 September 2018
Citizen science, research conducted by ordinary citizens
When we think of scientists, we often imagine people wearing white coats, shut up in a laboratory working with test…
-
13 May 2013
Small steps, great footprints
Have you ever wondered how much space is taken up by an apple or a steak?...
-
28 August 2020
The Earth seen from above: signs of fires
This image was taken by the ASTER sensor installed on the NASA TERRA satellite platform. The image was taken on…
15 July 2020
Earth viewed from above
Remote satellite sensing: what it is and what it is used for In the scientific field, the images produced by…
-
13 May 2013
Small steps, great footprints
Have you ever wondered how much space is taken up by an apple or a steak?...
From the Multimedia section
Facts
-
Laterite and bauxite deposits
These deposits can be observed in those tropical areas that are characterized by...
And in underground tunnels?
There are groups of terrestrial animals that eat insects, worms and other invertebrates...
What about the permafrost?
In Sub Arctic Swedish regions, some scientists studied the changes of permafrost...
-
The most populated cities in the world
In the last 50 years the world population has passed from 2.5 billion to 6 billion...
-
Mountains on the Earth
The different landscapes that we analysed in the previous section are distributed...
-
24 February 2011
Laterite and bauxite deposits
These deposits can be observed in those tropical areas that are characterized by...
And in underground tunnels?
There are groups of terrestrial animals that eat insects, worms and other invertebrates...
-
What about the permafrost?
In Sub Arctic Swedish regions, some scientists studied the changes of permafrost...
-
The most populated cities in the world
In the last 50 years the world population has passed from 2.5 billion to 6 billion...
-
24 February 2011
Laterite and bauxite deposits
These deposits can be observed in those tropical areas that are characterized by...
-
And in underground tunnels?
There are groups of terrestrial animals that eat insects, worms and other invertebrates...
-
What about the permafrost?
In Sub Arctic Swedish regions, some scientists studied the changes of permafrost...