Spatial Distribution of Soil Salinity and Management Aspects in the Northern United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates is situated in the hyper-arid dry land system where the aridity index (P/PET) is less than 0.05, and hence it is a water stress country. To offset the crop water requirements, irrigation is accomplished mainly with saline/brackish ground water, few progressive farmers use desalinated water using small scale reverse osmosis plants. Mismanagement of these resources leads to soil salinization in the agriculture regions, and in the coastal lands through sea water intrusion. Owing to better management of salt-affected soils to optimize agriculture production, it is essential to characterize root zone salinity as spatial distribution. Regular monitoring identifies future spread of the salinity problem and leads to informed decisions. We attempted to assess soil salinity in the Northern Emirates through a soil survey by investigating 10,200 observation sites on a grid basis, and measuring water and root zone salinity of some agricultural farms. We used a combination of techniques, i.e., remote sensing, GIS, grid survey observation at a depth of 50 cm, and laboratory analyses of soil samples. The electrical conductivity “EC” of 1:1 soil:water suspension was measured for all the observation sites and correlated to EC of soil saturation extract (ECe). Based on the USDA salinity classes (0–2, 2–4, 4–8, 8–6, 16–40 & >40 dS m⁻¹), the NE is divided into six salinity zones, revealing large area (83 %) as non-saline, 10 % (very slightly saline), 4 % (slightly saline), and 3 % moderately, strongly, and very strongly saline, the latter two types are confined to the coastal sabkha (due to sea water intrusion), and at the edge of the mountain and inter-dunal sabkhas. Salinity is also observed in agricultural farms irrigated with saline waters, where it has been diagnosed that root zone salinity is not managed properly. We have outlined the management aspects for these saline soils which can be used as a guide for future management and land use planning in the study area.