Open AccessPOSSIBLE USES OF FREEZE-PURIFICATION IN THE RECLAMATION OF SALINE SOILS
Author(s) -
E. de Jong
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
canadian journal of soil science/canadian journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1918-1841
pISSN - 0008-4271
DOI - 10.4141/cjss81-036
Subject(s) - meltwater , leaching (pedology) , soil water , dilution , land reclamation , saline , chemistry , effluent , saline water , soil science , geology , soil salinity , salinity , environmental science , snow , environmental engineering , geomorphology , medicine , endocrinology , history , oceanography , physics , archaeology , thermodynamics
Twenty-four, 15-cm-long soil columns were leached with a solution containing 2100 ppm Na and 2000 ppm Ca as NaCl and CaCl 2 , respectively. Half the columns were gravity-drained, the other half were drained under a pressure of 0.36 kg/cm 2 . The columns were frozen in a deep freeze, the equivalent to 6 cm of the original leaching solution was frozen on top of the columns, and the columns were then allowed to thaw. The initial 30% of the meltwater had a higher salt content and a higher SAR than the original solution, while the reverse was true for the last 70% of the melt. The infiltrating meltwater lowered EC and SAR of the top half of the soil columns. Differences were relatively small between four treatments in which the ice melted while the soil thawed, but these four treatments gave better leaching than the treatment in which the ice melted on a pre-thawed soil column. The results suggest that freeze-purification of saline drain water can be used in two ways for the reclamation of saline soils: (a) the initial melt could be collected and disposed of, while the later meltwater is used for leaching; or (b) all meltwater could be allowed to infiltrate into the soil resulting in a procedure similar to the high-salt-water dilution method of reclaiming saline soils.