Flood-spreading effects on the chemical properties of the soil: a case study of the Tasuj station, Iran

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to determine whether the flood-spreading system at the Tasuj station in east Azerbaijan, Iran, has caused inappropriate chemical alterations to the properties of the soil. One question is whether the flood-spreading system was constructed at an inappropriate location leading to unintentional consequences. Composite soil samples were taken from three flooded areas, from three grids in each flooding area, and from two depths. Chemical characteristics of the soil including electrical conductivity, pH, concentrations of bicarbonate, chloride, sodium, calcium, and magnesium ions, and the sodium adsorption ratio in the flooded areas were measured. Because of calcareous, gypsum, shale, and marl formations in the first flooded area, dissolution of solutes of these formations increased the concentration of ions in the runoff (especially sodium and chlorine, to 19.50 and 21.90 mmol (charge) L−1, respectively). These high ion concentrations caused the electrical conductivity of the runoff to increase significantly (up to 2.03 dS/m) compared to the other areas. High amounts of lime in the soil caused increasing buffering capacity of the area soil, as a consequence the flood-spreading did not cause significant changes to the soil pH and showed a difference of only 0.3–0.2 in the first flooded area compared to other areas.