RECENT ACCUMULATION OF SALTS IN THE SOILS OF SOUTHEASTERN SASKATCHEWAN

Abstract

Field and laboratory investigations were carried out on areas of saline soil which appeared during, and the year following, a period of abnormally high precipitation.These investigations have shown that a downward movement of salts has occurred from soil profiles on knoll and upper slope positions, with salinity increasing in the profiles at the lower slope positions. The maximum accumulation occurred first within the profile, and then at the surface of the soils in the lower positions below the main reduction in slope. The main slopes in these areas ranged from 5 to 9 per cent. In four of the five sites examined, the soil on the level area adjacent to the slough (ponded area) was lower in salt than at the highest elevation.It is assumed that the major increase in salinity developed as saline water from saturated soils in upper positions moved down the slope within the soil.