The nature of the patchiness of irrigated soils in the dry steppe zone (on example of the Svetloyarskaya irrigation system)

Abstract

Various variants of the patchiness of irrigated soils, which are reflected on remote sensing materials and associated with the results of field research, have been analyzed on the example of the Svetloyarskaya irrigation system. The system is located on the right-bank part of the Caspian lowland within the solonetz complexes of the dry steppe. It is revealed that the reasons for the formation of the patchiness of irrigated fields fixed on remote materials are not unambiguous. During studies at the Svetloyarskaya irrigation system, it was found that the patchiness depends on the depth of the groundwater table (GWT) and the state of the field (bare soil, cropland, and layland) and can be caused by soil properties, such as primary and secondary salinization, alkalization, the carbonate content, and others.