Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
honour of having been digitized for publication on the Internet as a
historic document:
Saline and Alkali Soils
(USDA 1954). Since that time,
we have known how to bring saline soils under cropping, at least in
technologically advanced countries such as Australia (Peck and Hatton).
But in many regions, technological difficulties on the one hand and
economic obstacles on the other are considerable and have caused many
projects to fail, especially in the downstream portions of the stream
courses because saline waters accumulate there (Barbiéro
et al
. 2004;
Banat
et al
. 2006; Yoshinobu
et al
. 2006). A quick glance through Google
Earth is revealing: in the dry countries, we discover many irrigated areas
that have been abandoned…
APPENDIX: BRIEF GLOSSARY FOR SALINE SOILS
Black crust:
efflorescence of carbonate and bicarbonate of sodium. There is
alkalization (pH > 8.5) with consequent dispersion of clays and organic
matter, and also phytotoxicity.
Chott:
Arabic word meaning beach. Around saline lakes of the high plains
of Algeria, wrongly called 'chott', the slopes of access to the sebkra are
chott in the strict sense of the word (J.H. Durand).
Foggara:
subterranean system of capture and channelling of water. It
consists of a narrow tunnel cut manually, generally deeper than a
permeable surface formation overlying impermeable hard rock. The
tunnel intercepts the water and leads it by gravity to the point it is
utilized. Vertical wells, regularly spaced, serve as air ducts, access for
digging, and then maintenance of the system.
Halite:
another name for sodium chloride, NaCl.
Halomorphic soil:
one of the many names for saline soils.
Hygroscopic crust
or even
wet crust:
efflorescence containing plenty of
MgCl2 and possibly CaCl
2
.
Mangrove swamp:
saline, organic marsh located on the shore of a warm
sea. In the strict sense, mangrove means mangrove trees. In the broad
sense, it also includes marshes with halophytes.
Natron:
Na
2
CO
3
, 10H
2
O.
Sebha
or
Sebkra:
Arabic term signifying a depression rendered infertile by
accumulation of salts. The saline lakes of the high plateaus of North
Africa are sebkra (J.H. Durand).
Shorre:
grassy zone on the sea shore flooded only at very high tides.
Slikke:
mud flats that can be furrowed with small channels. Equivalent
to
poto-poto
of the tropical zone.
