Risk of Salinization in the Agricultural Soils of Semi-Arid Regions: A Case Study from Moldavian Plain (NE Romania)

Cristina Oana Stan (), Radu Gabriel Pîrnău (), Bogdan Roșca and Doina Smaranda Sirbu-Radasanu
Additional contact information
Cristina Oana Stan: Department of Geology, Faculty of Geography and Geology, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, 20A ‘Carol I’ Blvd, 700505 Iași, Romania
Radu Gabriel Pîrnău: Geographic Research Center, Iași Branch, Romanian Academy, 8 ‘Carol I’ Blvd, 700505 Iași, Romania
Bogdan Roșca: Geographic Research Center, Iași Branch, Romanian Academy, 8 ‘Carol I’ Blvd, 700505 Iași, Romania
Doina Smaranda Sirbu-Radasanu: Department of Geology, Faculty of Geography and Geology, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, 20A ‘Carol I’ Blvd, 700505 Iași, Romania

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-17

Abstract: In the present study, the salinization trends of different soil types from a small hydrographic basin situated in NE Romania (Roșior basin) are investigated. The climatic conditions are favorable for long dry summers and intensive evaporation. The soils are developed on immature evolved clay sediments, as revealed by geochemical analysis. The salinity varies among soil types, attaining maximum values for Solonetz with total dissolved salts (TDS) between 1165.75 to 1881.25 mg/L. The aqueous solutions are represented by natural water and soil solution. The hydrogeochemical facies of the natural waters change from HCO 3 − —Mg 2+ in the upper basin to SO 4 2− —Na + in the middle or lower basin. The soil solution is moderately or strongly salinized and shows anionic variations from HCO 3 − to SO 4 2− in the studied profiles, whereas Na + is always the main cation. The concentrations of Na + and SO 4 2− evolve simultaneously. Raman spectroscopic exploration of the white efflorescences, which occur on topsoil, reveals the presence of thenardite as the dominant phase. The composition of soil solution results from both the ionic exchange and evaporation processes. The nature of soil solution mineralization and summer temperatures are two main factors that interact and promote the thenardite precipitation. The soil salinization induces negative effects on crop nutrition, impacting further the crop yields. The results of this study can be extrapolated to larger areas formed on Sarmatian sedimentary deposits affected by salinization processes.

Keywords: salinization; sodic soil; thenardite; Raman spectroscopy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/24/17056/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/24/17056/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:24:p:17056-:d:1008445

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().