Effect of Salt Accompany with Sodium Chloride on Soil Loss by Wind Erosion in the Dried Bed of Uremia Lake

Abstract

AbstractThe present study investigates the effect of sodium sulfate and magnesium chloride salts along with sodium chloride on the resistance of salt crusts against soil erosion. A soil sample from the previous bed of Uremia Lake was collected, and concentrations of sodium and magnesium ions from that sample were determined. Then, the concentration of each ion in the soil sample was increased twofold and threefold by adding sodium sulfate and magnesium chloride salts solutions. Two types of crust treatment were prepared: crusted and crustless soil. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with two crusts treatments and five salt concentration treatments. Treatments were: N0: control treatment (no salt added), N1: twofold increasing initial sodium sulfate values treatment, N2: threefold increasing initial sodium sulfate values treatment, M1: twofold increasing initial magnesium chloride values treatment, and M2: threefold increasing initial magnesium chloride values treatment. Salt solutions were used in two forms: (1). spraying salts on the surface of soil samples without mixing of soil and (2). spraying salts on the soil surface and swirling of soil with a spatula. So, after drying of samples, there were two types of soil samples: crusted and crustless samples. After that, all samples were placed into the wind tunnel, and soil loss from each treatment was measured. The highest soil loss was observed in soil samples treated with sodium sulfate and the lowest in magnesium chloride treatments.KeywordsMagnesium chlorideSodium chlorideSurface crustWind erosion