A Heritage Agronomic Study as a Database for Monitoring the Soil Salinity of an Irrigated District in NE Spain

Abstract

This article presents and reviews the soil salinity data provided by a rescued vintage agronomic report on an irrigated area of 35,875 ha located in the center of the Ebro River basin, in the NE of mainland Spain. These data come from a soil sampling campaign conducted from May to the first half of July 1975 for the purpose of delineating saline and non-saline soils. The agronomic report was produced in response to demands from farmers to combat soil salinity, and represents the state of the art in those years for salinity studies. Our paper presents the scrubbed soil salinity data for this year, checking their consistency and locating the study sites. The main finding is the unearthing of this heritage report and the discussion of its soil salinity data. We show that the report supplies an assessment and a baseline for further soil salinity tracking by conducting new measurements either by direct soil sampling or by nondestructive techniques, providing an estimate of soil salinity at different locations. This task is feasible, as shown in our previously published articles involving nearby areas. A comparison of the salt amount in the soil over the years would provide a means to evaluate irrigation methods for sustainable land management. This comparison can be conducted simultaneously with analysis of other agricultural features described in the report for the irrigation district in 1975.

Keywords

• aridity
• Ebro river basin
• irrigation
• soil salinity tracking