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Measures of salinity
Salinity is a measure of soluble salts in soil or water. Salt is any molecule comprised of a
cation, such as sodium+, potassium+ and calcium2+, and an anion, such as chloride- and sulfate2-.
Sodium chloride (NaCl) is the most common salt in groundwater and soils in Western Australia. Most
salt in the Western Australian agricultural areas is from rain deposition over many years.
Estimate or measure salinity by:
the electrical conductivity (EC) of a solution or soil and water mix, in the field or laboratory
the apparent electrical conductivity of soil using an electromagnetic induction (EM) device
chemical analysis of total dissolved solids (TDS) of water or soil in a laboratory to identify and
measure ion concentrations.
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Estimating soil salinity from EC
EC meters are a cheap and easy way for estimating salinity: the higher the conductivity reading, the
higher the salt content. Prices range from less than $200 for simple handheld field-use meter, to
more than $1000 for more advanced field or laboratory style testers. These meters give results in EC
(siemens) or converted to estimated total dissolved solids (in parts per million).
measure 1 part by weight (grams) air-dried soil to 5 parts by volume (mL) distilled water
agitate the soil mix to get 95% dissolution of salts, then allow the mix to settle:
o 24 hours for low EC soils
o 3 hours for high EC soils
measure the EC of the solution using an EC meter, plus the temperature of the solution if the EC
meter does not automatically correct for temperature
if required, adjust the EC to that at 25°C
interpret the salinity class of the EC measure to allow for soil texture differences (Table 1).
textures
Slightly
0.15–0.28 0.19–0.36 0.26–0.50 2–4
saline
Moderately
0.29–0.57 0.37–0.72 0.51–1.00 4–8
saline
Table 1 Salinity classes in electrical conductivity as EC or EC , for different soil
1:5 e
textures
Severely
1.15–2.28 1.46–2.90 2.01–4.00 16–32
saline
Extremely
>2.28 >2.90 >4.00 >32
saline
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Sand 15
Sandy loam 12
Loam 10
Clay loam 9
Table 2 Factor to convert between EC and EC (w/v) of different soil
e 1:5
Light–medium clay 8
Heavy clay 6
EC
EC all soils EC (w/v)loam
a
(mS/m) (mS/m)
(mS/m)
The EM38 is an expensive unit, but relatively easy to use in the field (Figure 1), and designed to
estimate the bulk EC of the rooting zone to about 1.5m. The EM31, a larger machine, estimates bulk
EC to about 6m depth.
Figure 1 Using a hand held EM38 in vertical mode
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chemical analysis and summation of all the major anions and cations present in the sample (most
accurate measurement of salt content)
the gravimetric technique where a known volume of sample is evaporated at 180°C to dryness
and remaining solid residues are weighed
converting EC to TDS (an estimate).
TDS is recorded in milligrams of dissolved solids in 1 litre of water (mg/L). Parts per million (ppm) is
approximately equal to mg/L when the water density is assumed to be 1kg/L.