IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v129y2013icp120-129.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Land-use and topography shape soil and groundwater salinity in central Argentina

Author

Listed:
  • Nosetto, M.D.
  • Acosta, A.M.
  • Jayawickreme, D.H.
  • Ballesteros, S.I.
  • Jackson, R.B.
  • Jobbágy, E.G.

Abstract

Being one of the oldest and most serious environmental problems, soil and groundwater salinization poses critical challenges for the managing of agricultural and natural areas. Together with climate, topography and land-use are main controls dictating salt accumulation patterns at different spatial scales. In this paper, we quantified the response of salt accumulation to the interactive effects of topography (lowland-upland gradients) and vegetation (annual crops, tree plantations, native grasslands) across a sub-humid sedimentary landscape with shallow groundwater in the Inland Pampas of Argentina. We measured salt stocks from the surface down to the water-table through soil coring and their horizontal distribution through electrical-resistivity imaging in eleven fields occupied by annual crops, eucalyptus plantations and grasslands, encompassing water-table depth gradients of 1–6m below the surface. Land-use and topography exerted strong influences on salinity and explained together 82% and 66% of the spatial variability of groundwater salinity and soil salt accumulation (0–2m of depth), respectively. As a single explanatory variable, land-use overwhelmed topography dictating salinity patterns. Tree plantations stored 7–8 times more salts than croplands and grasslands throughout the unsaturated soil profile in areas with shallow water-tables (<3.5-m depth). As groundwater became shallower, its salinity and that of the unsaturated soil above it increased, although the slope of this relationship was significantly higher in tree plantations. Soil salinity profiles and electrical-resistivity imaging showed maximum salinization around the water-table in tree plantations, indicating that groundwater absorption and solute exclusion by tree roots may be the dominant salinization mechanism. Our study highlights the strong influence of land-use on salinization patterns, which can be even stronger than the more widely recognized controls of climate and topography, and proposes some guidelines for a better use of vegetation to manage hydrology in salt-affected areas. A poor comprehension of this influence, as well as its underlying mechanisms, may lead to incorrect diagnosis of salinization and the implementation of ineffective management actions.

Suggested Citation

  • Nosetto, M.D. & Acosta, A.M. & Jayawickreme, D.H. & Ballesteros, S.I. & Jackson, R.B. & Jobbágy, E.G., 2013. "Land-use and topography shape soil and groundwater salinity in central Argentina," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 120-129.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:129:y:2013:i:c:p:120-129
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2013.07.017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377413001984
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2013.07.017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mahmood, Khalid & Morris, Jim & Collopy, John & Slavich, Peter, 2001. "Groundwater uptake and sustainability of farm plantations on saline sites in Punjab province, Pakistan," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Heuperman, Alfred, 1999. "Hydraulic gradient reversal by trees in shallow water table areas and repercussions for the sustainability of tree-growing systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(2-3), pages 153-167, February.
    3. Stirzaker, R. J. & Cook, F. J. & Knight, J. H., 1999. "Where to plant trees on cropping land for control of dryland salinity: some approximate solutions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(2-3), pages 115-133, February.
    4. Kahlown, M.A. & Ashraf, M. & Zia-ul-Haq, 2005. "Effect of shallow groundwater table on crop water requirements and crop yields," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 24-35, July.
    5. Khanzada, A. N. & Morris, J. D. & Ansari, R. & Slavich, P. G. & Collopy, J. J., 1998. "Groundwater uptake and sustainability of Acacia and Prosopis plantations in Southern Pakistan," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 121-139, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kroes, Joop & van Dam, Jos & Supit, Iwan & de Abelleyra, Diego & Verón, Santiago & de Wit, Allard & Boogaard, Hendrik & Angelini, Marcos & Damiano, Francisco & Groenendijk, Piet & Wesseling, Jan & Vel, 2019. "Agrohydrological analysis of groundwater recharge and land use changes in the Pampas of Argentina," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 843-857.
    2. Fuat Kaya & Calogero Schillaci & Ali Keshavarzi & Levent Başayiğit, 2022. "Predictive Mapping of Electrical Conductivity and Assessment of Soil Salinity in a Western Türkiye Alluvial Plain," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-21, November.
    3. Zipper, Samuel C. & Soylu, Mehmet Evren & Kucharik, Christopher J. & Loheide II, Steven P., 2017. "Quantifying indirect groundwater-mediated effects of urbanization on agroecosystem productivity using MODFLOW-AgroIBIS (MAGI), a complete critical zone model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 359(C), pages 201-219.
    4. Hongfang Li & Jian Wang & Hu Liu & Zhanmin Wei & Henglu Miao, 2022. "Quantitative Analysis of Temporal and Spatial Variations of Soil Salinization and Groundwater Depth along the Yellow River Saline–Alkali Land," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-13, June.
    5. Yu, Haijiao & Wen, Xiaohu & Wu, Min & Sheng, Danrui & Wu, Jun & Zhao, Ying, 2022. "Data-based groundwater quality estimation and uncertainty analysis for irrigation agriculture," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    6. Kulasinghe, Tharindu Nuwan & Dharmakeerthi, Randombage Saman, 2022. "Effects of land use type and tank components on soil properties and sustainability of tank cascade system in the Dry Zone of north central Sri Lanka," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    7. Florio, E.L. & Mercau, J.L. & Jobbágy, E.G. & Nosetto, M.D., 2014. "Interactive effects of water-table depth, rainfall variation, and sowing date on maize production in the Western Pampas," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 75-83.
    8. Mercau, Jorge L. & Nosetto, Marcelo D. & Bert, Federico & Giménez, Raúl & Jobbágy, Esteban G., 2016. "Shallow groundwater dynamics in the Pampas: Climate, landscape and crop choice effects," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 159-168.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Crosbie, Russell S. & Wilson, Brett & Hughes, Justin D. & McCulloch, Christopher & King, Warren McG., 2008. "A comparison of the water use of tree belts and pasture in recharge and discharge zones in a saline catchment in the Central West of NSW, Australia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 211-223, March.
    2. Minhas, P.S. & Yadav, R.K. & Bali, Aradhana, 2020. "Perspectives on reviving waterlogged and saline soils through plantation forestry," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    3. Minhas, P.S. & Yadav, R.K. & Lal, K. & Chaturvedi, R.K., 2015. "Effect of long-term irrigation with wastewater on growth, biomass production and water use by Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus tereticornis Sm.) planted at variable stocking density," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 151-160.
    4. Ren, Dongyang & Xu, Xu & Engel, Bernard & Huang, Guanhua, 2018. "Growth responses of crops and natural vegetation to irrigation and water table changes in an agro-ecosystem of Hetao, upper Yellow River basin: Scenario analysis on maize, sunflower, watermelon and ta," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 93-104.
    5. White, D. A. & Dunin, F. X. & Turner, N. C. & Ward, B. H. & Galbraith, J. H., 2002. "Water use by contour-planted belts of trees comprised of four Eucalyptus species," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(1-3), pages 133-152, February.
    6. Wu, Zhangsheng & Li, Yue & Wang, Rong & Xu, Xu & Ren, Dongyang & Huang, Quanzhong & Xiong, Yunwu & Huang, Guanhua, 2023. "Evaluation of irrigation water saving and salinity control practices of maize and sunflower in the upper Yellow River basin with an agro-hydrological model based method," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    7. Muhammad Amin & Mobushir Riaz Khan & Sher Shah Hassan & Muhammad Imran & Muhammad Hanif & Irfan Ahmad Baig, 2023. "Determining satellite-based evapotranspiration product and identifying relationship with other observed data in Punjab, Pakistan," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 23-39, January.
    8. Benyon, Richard G. & Marcar, Nico E. & Theiveyanathan, Swaminathan & Tunningley, W. Mark & Nicholson, Alan T., 2001. "Species differences in transpiration on a saline discharge site," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 65-81, August.
    9. Hanjra, Munir A. & Qureshi, M. Ejaz, 2010. "Global water crisis and future food security in an era of climate change," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 365-377, October.
    10. Morris, J. D. & Collopy, J. J., 1999. "Water use and salt accumulation by Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Casuarina cunninghamiana on a site with shallow saline groundwater," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(2-3), pages 205-227, February.
    11. Benedykt Pepliński & Wawrzyniec Czubak, 2021. "The Influence of Opencast Lignite Mining Dehydration on Plant Production—A Methodological Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-29, March.
    12. Liu, Meihan & Paredes, Paula & Shi, Haibin & Ramos, Tiago B. & Dou, Xu & Dai, Liping & Pereira, Luis S., 2022. "Impacts of a shallow saline water table on maize evapotranspiration and groundwater contribution using static water table lysimeters and the dual Kc water balance model SIMDualKc," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    13. Wu, Yao & Liu, Tingxi & Paredes, Paula & Duan, Limin & Pereira, Luis S., 2015. "Water use by a groundwater dependent maize in a semi-arid region of Inner Mongolia: Evapotranspiration partitioning and capillary rise," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 222-232.
    14. Zhao, Tianxing & Zhu, Yan & Ye, Ming & Yang, Jinzhong & Jia, Biao & Mao, Wei & Wu, Jingwei, 2022. "A new approach for estimating spatial-temporal phreatic evapotranspiration at a regional scale using NDVI and water table depth measurements," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    15. John, Michele & Kingwell, Ross S., 2002. "A review of options for dryland salinity management in low rainfall agricultural environments in Western Australia," 2002 Conference (46th), February 13-15, 2002, Canberra, Australia 183424, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    16. Talebnejad, R. & Sepaskhah, A.R., 2015. "Effect of deficit irrigation and different saline groundwater depths on yield and water productivity of quinoa," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 225-238.
    17. Karimov, Akmal Kh. & Šimůnek, Jirka & Hanjra, Munir A. & Avliyakulov, Mirzaolim & Forkutsa, Irina, 2014. "Effects of the shallow water table on water use of winter wheat and ecosystem health: Implications for unlocking the potential of groundwater in the Fergana Valley (Central Asia)," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 57-69.
    18. Tuohy, P. & O’ Loughlin, J. & Peyton, D. & Fenton, O., 2018. "The performance and behavior of land drainage systems and their impact on field scale hydrology in an increasingly volatile climate," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 96-107.
    19. Mahmood, Khalid & Morris, Jim & Collopy, John & Slavich, Peter, 2001. "Groundwater uptake and sustainability of farm plantations on saline sites in Punjab province, Pakistan," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 1-20, May.
    20. Gou, Qiqi & Zhu, Yonghua & Horton, Robert & Lü, Haishen & Wang, Zhenlong & Su, Jianbin & Cui, Chenyun & Zhang, Haoqiang & Wang, Xiaoyi & Zheng, Jingyao & Yuan, Fei, 2020. "Effect of climate change on the contribution of groundwater to the root zone of winter wheat in the Huaibei Plain of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:129:y:2013:i:c:p:120-129. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.