Potential for Sodium and Salinity in the Soil-Survey Mapping Units of Kansas

Abstract

Soil surveys published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS; formerly Soil Conservation Service [SCS]) for each of the 105 counties in Kansas were reviewed to assess the extent and distribution of soils affected by sodium or salinity throughout the entire state. Salt-affected soils have important implications for soil-management practices. A list of affected soil series was compiled along with maps to illustrate the distribution. The list and maps were subsequently refined using information obtained from the State Soil Survey Data Base maintained by the NRCS. A liberal interpretation of what constitutes an affected soil was employed in order to include all soils that might be only slightly affected by either sodium or salinity. However, discounting all such slightly affected soils still leaves more than one million acres of soils in Kansas (less than 2% of the total area of the state) that are affected by sodium or salinity to a degree great enough to be classified as saline, sodic, or saline-sodic, based on the accepted definition of these terms. A total of 84 counties identified as containing at least one soil series that may be slightly affected by sodium or salinity illustrates a distribution more widespread than one might expect for the state of Kansas. Given the variations in climate, landscape position, and parent materials of the soils identified, it suggests that occurrences of affected soils are a function of a combination of factors upon a generally widespread presence of at least slight levels of salinity throughout the Kansas environment. It suggests, also, a need for greater sensitivity to the possibility of both existing and potential occurrences of affected soils in the development and use of Kansas landscapes.