Study on Environmental Quality and Prevention of Soil Salinization in Northern Shandong Plain (North of Yellow River)

【Objective】 Soil salinity is a common abiotic stress most crops experience during their growth. Understanding its spatiotemporal variation and the underlying reasons is impetus to improve agricultural management. We propose a model in this paper to classify soil salinity and analyze the underlying mechanisms. The model is applied to the North of Yellow River in Northern Shandong Plain. 【Method】 The model is based on the two - level fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. A comprehensive evaluation index system is constructed using soil environment factors, groundwater environmental factors, and physical geographical factors. It considered eight indexes: proportion of land areas affected by salinized soil, degree of soil salinity, soil salt content, lithology of unsaturated zone, depth of groundwater table, groundwater salinity, evaporation-prescription ratio, and topography and landform. The degree of soil quality was divided into excellent, good, moderate, poor, and very poor grades. 【Result】 The areas of soil classified as very poor, poor, moderate, good and excellent based on soil salinization were 5 277.49 km2, 6 564.76 km2, 4 383.79 km2, 5 995.52 km2, and 4 919.29 km2, respectively. Based on their genesis and salinization, the salinized soils in the region can be divided to three areas consisting of eight sub-areas. 【Conclusion】 Soil salinity in the North of Yellow River in Northern Shandong Plain varies in its severity and space. The results presented in this paper can aid in improving soil management practices to promote a healthy agricultural and rural economy in the region.