Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science

ISSN: 0365-0340 (Print) 1476-3567 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gags20

Spatio-temporal variability of soil salinity and

sodicity in agricultural reclaimed coastal wetlands,
Eastern China

Xuefeng Xie, Lijie Pu, Ming Zhu, Tao Wu & Yan Xu

To cite this article: Xuefeng Xie, Lijie Pu, Ming Zhu, Tao Wu & Yan Xu (2019): Spatio-temporal
variability of soil salinity and sodicity in agricultural reclaimed coastal wetlands, Eastern China,
Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science, DOI: 10.1080/03650340.2019.1686138

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03650340.2019.1686138

Accepted author version posted online: 28

Oct 2019.

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Publisher: Taylor & Francis & Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Journal: Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science
DOI: 10.1080/03650340.2019.1686138
Spatio-temporal variability of soil salinity and sodicity in agricultural

reclaimed coastal wetlands, Eastern China

Xuefeng Xie a,c, Lijie Pu b,c*, Ming Zhu b,c, Tao Wu a, Yan Xu d

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a
College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua

321004, China

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b
School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023,

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China
c
Key Laboratory of the Coastal Zone Exploitation and Protection of Ministry of Land and
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Resources, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
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d
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and

Technology, Suzhou 215009, China

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Corresponding author: Lijie Pu, School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences,

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Nanjing University, No. 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing 210023, PR China, E-mail:
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ljpu@nju.edu.cn
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Abstract：The spatio-temporal distribution of soil salinity and sodicity are the key to

understand the law of water and salt transport in porous media and put forward the

amendment measures of saline soil. A total of 56 soil sample sites were selected from four

agricultural reclamation regions and an adjoining coastal wetland. Descriptive statistical and

geostatistical analyses were performed to describe the spatio-temporal variability of soluble

salt ions, soil salinity and sodicity indicators. The results showed that the average

concentration of soil soluble salt (SSC), pH, sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and exchangeable

sodium percentage (ESP) decreased by 97.1%, 2.9%, 95.1% and 94.9% during the whole

reclamation period. Meanwhile, soil salinity and sodicity indicators showed a significant

positive correlation with soluble salt ions and declined significantly with increasing years of

reclamation except HCO3-. The spatial distribution of concentration of SSC, pH, SAR and

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ESP were similar to that of soluble salt ions except HCO3-, which showed a higher

concentration in areas reclaimed for 5 and 30 years, and lower concentration in areas

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reclaimed for 38 and 61 years. Additionally, the area of saline and alkaline soils above

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moderate levels accounted for 54.5% and 62.7% of the total area.

Keywords: Soil salinity; Redundancy analysis; Spatial analysis; Coastal reclamation area;
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Eastern China
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Introduction

With the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the contradiction between

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human and land resources have become increasingly prominent in coastal zone (Shi et al.
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2005; Iost et al. 2007). Coastal tidal land as an important land reserve resources, its

amendment, development and utilization has received a lot of concern and become a hot issue
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in many countries (Fu et al. 2014; Raats et al. 2015; Xie et al. 2019a). Coastal tidal land

contains a large number of water-soluble salts and the concentration of salt ions can cause
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physiological water shortage on plants and inhibit the absorption of nutrients, resulting in

dysplasia of plants and reduction in yields (Awad et al. 1989; Mart et al. 1995). For example,

the increase of Na+ and Mg2+ ions will cause structural damage in plant cells and the

hindrance of photosynthesis and reduces the production of chlorophylls (Kingsbury et al.

1986). Meanwhile, soil salinity and sodicity may lead to mechanistic problems such as the
production of toxic intermediate in the process of plant nitrogen metabolism, which will

weaken the metabolism of plants (Tahkokorpi et al. 2012; Nystrand et al. 2016). Kinraide

(1999) reported that K+ have a high toxicity for plant root systems while toxicity of Na+ are

more obvious for the development of stem. What’s more, the accumulation of soil salinity and

sodicity also affected crop yields such as corn, wheat, rice and cotton (Dorraji et al. 2010;

Singh et al. 2010; Funakawa et al. 2014; Ganjegunte et al. 2014). Soil salinity and sodicity

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have become one of the most important factors affecting the crop yield in coastal saline area

(Dai et al. 2011; Li et al. 2014; Wang et al. 2017).

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Soil salinity and sodicity are recognized as regionalized variables and have both

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geological structure characteristics and statistical stochastic characteristics (He et al. 2015;

She et al. 2016). Geostatistics based on regional variable theory has been proved one of the
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most effective methods to analyze the spatial distribution and variability of soil properties

(Mousavifard et al. 2013; Emadi et al. 2016; Hakan et al. 2017). During the formation of
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coastal tidal land, soil is constantly affected by the infiltration of salty seawater, which caused
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high salinity and sodicity, and showed strong spatial variability (Xu et al. 2014; Feng et al.

2018). Presently, most researchers focused on the variation of soil salinity during the process
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of agricultural reclamation, whereas less attention was paid to soil sodicity (Xu et al. 2014;

Yin et al. 2017; Wang et al. 2017). However, compared with salt stress, alkali stress destroys
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the equilibrium state of ions formed in plant cells, especially the high pH environment and
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osmotic pressure around roots (Wang et al. 2015). It has a greater impact on nutrient uptake,

organic acid balance, ion homeostasis and metabolism of plants in cells, tissues and organs,

thus inhibiting plant growth more seriously (Guo et al. 2010; Sun et al. 2016). Actually, the

process of soil dealkalization lags behind the desalination after coastal tidal land reclamation,

which becomes the main limiting factor to inhibit crop growth in the later period of

reclamation (Xie et al. 2019a). Therefore, the spatio-temporal variability of soil salinity and
sodicity can reflect the degree and state of soil salinization, which is of great significance to

the amendment, utilization and forecast of saline soil (Wu et al. 2009; Colombani et al. 2014;

Yu et al. 2014). In addition, previous studies could not intuitively give the interaction

relationship between multiple variables, and hardly quantified the effect of soluble salt ions

on variability of soil salinization (Wang et al. 2014; Wang et al. 2017).

In this study, statistical and geostatistical methods were applied to explore the

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spatio-temporal variability of soil salinity and sodicity indicators in an intensive long-term

coastal reclamation area. The objectives of this study were (1) to explore the variation of soil

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salinity and sodicity indicators in different reclamation years and land covers; and (2) to

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reveal the characteristics of spatial pattern of soil salinity and sodicity in coastal reclamation

area.
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Material and methods

Site description
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The study area is located in Rudong County (120°42′–121°22′E, 32°12′–32°36′N), the

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southeast of Jiangsu Province and the north wing of Yangtze River Delta in China (Figure 1).

The regional climate is northern humid subtropical monsoon climate characterized by four
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distinct seasons with abundant sunlight and rainfall, and the average annual rainfall and

temperature is 1,028.6 mm and 15.0 °C, respectively. The soil was originated from the
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modern marine and fluvial deposits, which belongs to sandy loam and classified as coastal
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saline-sodic soils (Xie et al. 2019b). Rudong County is known as the reputation of the gold

coast in China, has a coastline of 106 km and mudflat area of 6.93×104 hm2, which have been

reclaimed 2.41×104 hm2 under a series of programs since 1951. The agricultural reclamation

of study area is mainly depending on the natural leaching by means of abundant precipitation,

and different land use to complete the process of desalination and dealkalization after

construction of seawalls. None irrigation was carried out except for the growing period of
wheat or rice and the ascending of saline phreatic water caused by unproductive water losses

from the soil surface is the main reason of increasing salinity and sodicity. The reclaimed

coastal tidal land is mainly used for cultivation and aquaculture. The cropping system varied

with the increasing reclamation years and undergoing three stages: (1) Land use pattern

gradually converted from abandonment to mariculture in the early period of reclamation (0-10

years) due to high salinity, with the dominant vegetation types of Spartina alterniflora,

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Suaeda salsa, and Sesbania cannabina; (2) Land use pattern gradually succeeded to

freshwater culture and farmland along with the increase of soil nutrients and decrease of

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salinity after reclaimed for 10-30 years, and some salt tolerant crops began planted in this

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period such as cotton, wheat, and corn; (3) After 30 years of reclamation, with the consistently

decrease of soil salinity and increase of nutrients, soil quality basically meets the requirements
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of cultivation for most crops, such as paddy, wheat, corn, rapeseed and broad bean.
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Soil collection and analysis

The space-for-time substitution method was used to determine the variation in soil salinity
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and sodicity following reclamation due to the previously study has verified that the soils of

the different reclaimed areas in study area can be considered to share the same source (Iost et
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al. 2007; Li et al. 2018). In September 2012, 14, 14, 11, 9 and 8 soil sample sites were
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respectively selected from reclamation regions reclaimed in 1951 (61 years), 1974 (38 years),

1982 (30 years), 2007 (5 years) and adjoining coastal tidal flat (0 years) according to the
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random uniform grid method and typical land use types. A total of 56 soil sample sites were

selected in study area and each site sampling was repeated three times with a soil core

sampler following the removal of the surface litter. The sampling depth was 0–10 cm in each

site, which is located in the upper root layer and more sensitive to human activities due to the

plowing depth of local farmers is about 15 cm (Xie et al. 2017; Yao et al. 2016). After

air-drying and removal of plant root and shells, all soil samples were grounded and passed
through a 2 mm nylon sieve. All methods used for determining the soil properties have

previously been described in detail in Xie et al. (2017). Soil particle size was determined by

Marven 2000 laser particle size analyzer, and the USDA size classification system were

applied to classified the sand, silt and clay (Soil Survey Division Staff. 1993). Soil pH was

assessed by pH meter (Mettler Toledo, Switzerland) using a 1:2.5 soil to deionized water ratio.

All soluble salt ions were measured in a 1:5 soil-water suspension. Ca2+ and Mg2+ were

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determined by complexometric titration using ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA). Na+

and K+ were measured by using flame photometry. Cl- was measured by using nitrate titration.

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CO32- and HCO3- were assayed by titration with hydrochloric acid. The total soil soluble salt

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content (SSC) is the sum of the cations and anions; and cation exchange capacity (CEC) was

determined by sodium acetate method. Sodium absorption ratio (SAR) and exchangeable
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sodium percentage (ESP) were calculate by equation (Güler et al. 2014):

Na +
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SAR =
1
2
(Ca 2 + + Mg 2 + )
(1)
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Exchangeab le Na +
ESP = × 100% (2)
CEC
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Statistical analysis

Descriptive and multivariate statistical analyses were performed to describe the temporal
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variation of soil salinity and sodicity indicators using SPSS 20.0 for Windows. Redundancy
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analysis (RDA) can intuitively give the interaction between multiproperties, which can reflect

the quantitative relationship between soil soluble salt ions and soil salinity and sodicity

indicators (Xie et al. 2017). Monte Carlo permutation can clearly quantify the effect of

soluble salt ions on variability of soil salinization (Xie et al. 2019b). RDA and partial Monte

Carlo permutation analysis were performed to explore the relationship between soil salinity

and sodicity indicators using Canoco 4.5 for Windows. Geostatistical analysis was used to
calculate the semi-variance and spatial dependence using GS+ 9.0 for Windows. Ordinary

kriging interpolation is an unbiased, linear and optimal spatial interpolation method based on

variogram and structure analysis, which is widely used in spatial prediction of soil properties

(Emadi et al. 2016; Zhang et al. 2016; Hakan et al. 2017). Ordinary Kriging interpolation

method has obvious superiority in interpolation of sparse and non-uniform distribution of

discrete point, which is suitable for the characteristics of soil properties in the study area (Yu

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et al. 2014; Emadi et al. 2016). Ordinary kriging was employed to conduct the spatial analysis

and plot the distribution map using ArcGIS 10.3 for Windows.

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Results and discussion

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Temporal variation of soil soluble salt ions, salinity and sodicity indicators following

different reclamation years and land covers

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The contents of soil soluble salt ions, SSC, pH, SAR and ESP in the areas with different

reclamation years are shown in Table 1. With increase of reclamation years, soil showed a clear
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trend of desalinization and dealkalization. All soluble salt ions decreased greatly with the

increase of reclamation years except HCO3-, and the decrease of Na+ and Cl- was the largest,
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reached 97.7% and 99.5%, respectively. The similar phenomenon was also observed in Dongtai
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reclamation areas and Yangtze River Delta. This might be caused by the influence of natural

leaching and artificial tillage management (Liu et al. 2013; Yin et al. 2016). Soil desalination
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continued following agricultural reclamation in study area. The average SSC was 15.87 g kg-1

and 11.38 g kg-1 in bare flat and areas reclaimed for 5 years, significantly higher than that of
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reclaimed for 30, 38 and 61 years. Furthermore, the average SSC in areas reclaimed for 61 years

has been declined to 0.46 g kg-1, which belongs to the non-salinized soil (Xu et al. 2014).

Previous research has reported that water and salt movement in soil was controlled by human

activities after reclamation, which makes the alteration of salt ions composition, and

accordingly led to the reduction of SSC (Xu et al. 2014). Soil dealkalization process after
reclamation lagged behind the desalination process, as indicated by rapidly decrease of SSC and

relatively stable of pH, SAR and ESP in the early period of reclamation (Table 1). Soil pH was

observed slightly increased in the initial period of reclamation. This is probably due to the

reduction of Ca2 + caused by desalination and the corresponding increase of HCO3- (Xie et al.

2017). Soil pH then declined gradually with the increase years of reclamation due to the

continuous field management (Iost et al. 2007). SAR and ESP are important indicators to

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measure the degree of soil alkalization, generally the higher the SAR and ESP, the more serious is

the harm of sodium (Xie et al. 2017). The variation of SAR and ESP under different reclamation

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years were similar to that of SSC, which showed a continuous desalination process. Besides,

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SAR and ESP decreased by 95.1% and 94.9% during the whole reclamation period. This was

owing to the long-term tillage and fertilization, and consistent with the results in the Hangzhou
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Bay and Bohai Rim of China (Iost et al. 2007; Wang et al. 2017).

The contents of soluble salt ions, SSC, pH, SAR and ESP for the primary land uses/covers in
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each reclamation years are shown in Figure 2. For unreclaimed tidal flats, Spartina alterniflora
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had higher levels of soluble salt ions, salinity and sodicity indicators than those of the Suaeda

salsa except HCO3-. Human activities played a vital role in desalinization after reclamation, such
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as building ditches, digging aquaculture ponds and cultivating crops (Laudicina et al. 2009). The

reclaimed lands used as aquaculture ponds and croplands showed lower contents of and densities
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of soluble salt ions, salinity and sodicity indicators than those of unreclaimed tidal flats except

HCO3-. For an identical reclamation year, lower contents of Ca2+, SSC, SAR and ESP were
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observed in paddy fields and aquaculture pond than those of the drylands such as cotton field.

This probably attribute to the freshwater accelerated soil desalinization and dealkalization

process (Yin et al. 2016). Additionally, the cultivation of salt-tolerant plants in the early stage of

reclamation can significantly reduce SSC and salt ions such as Mg2+, Na+, K+, SO42-, Cl-

compared with Suaeda salsa. Previous studies have demonstrated that some salt-tolerant plants
have better desalination effect, such as Sesbania cannabina, Avena sativa, etc (Wu et al. 2009;

Xie et al. 2019a).

Relationship between soil salt ions, salinity and sodicity indicators

Redundancy analysis was used to analyze the inherent relation between soil salt ions and soil

salinity, sodicity indicators. As shown in Figure 3, two component axes have explained 87.7%

and 1.3% of the variance of soil salinity and sodicity indicators (SSC, pH, SAR and ESP),

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respectively. This means 89.0% of the variation in soil salinity and sodicity indicators were

explained by alterations in soil soluble salt ions, and the variation was mainly determined by the

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first axis (RDA 1). Additionally, Na+, Cl- and K+ plays a better role in explaining soil salinity and

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sodicity indicators due to longer projection length of arrow line (Xie et al. 2019b). SSC and Ca2+,

Mg2+, Na+, K+, SO42-, Cl- showed a significant positive correlation and the correlation between
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SSC, and Cl- is the highest, with the correlation coefficient of 0.95. SAR and ESP were observed

have a highest positive correlation with Na+, with the correlation coefficient of 0.93 and 0.90,
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whereas pH is highly positive correlated with Ca2+ and negative correlated with HCO3-.
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Partial Monte Carlo permutation analysis was performed to analyze the contribution of soil

salt ions to the variation in soil salinity and sodicity. As presented in Table 2, the order of
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importance of soil salt ions to soil salinity and sodicity in surface soil was as follows:

Na+>Cl->K+>Mg2+>SO42->Ca2+>HCO3-. The effects of Na+, Cl-, K+, Mg2+, SO42- and Ca2+ on soil
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salinity and sodicity were significant at α=0.01, with explained variation of 84.5%, 67.1%,

66.1%, 60.5%, 57.8% and 52.3%, respectively, whereas the HCO3- was significant at α=0.05,
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with explained variation of 12.5%.

Spatial distribution of soil salt ions, soil salinity and sodicity indicators
Parameters of the semi-variogram models for soil ions, salinity and sodicity indicators were

shown in Table 3. Ca2+, Mg2+, HCO3- and Cl- were suitable for spherical model, Na+, SSC and

ESP were suitable for exponential model, and K+, SO42- and pH were fit for Gaussian model.
Nugget to Sill ratio Co/(Co+C) represents the degree of spatial variation of variables and reflects

the proportion of variation caused by random factors to total spatial variation (Wang et al. 2017).

If the ratio is less than 0.25, then the variable is strongly spatially autocorrelated; if between 0.25

and 0.75, it exhibited moderately spatial autocorrelation; and if higher than 0.75, the spatial

autocorrelation is weak (Yu et al. 2014). Accordingly, Mg2+, Na+, SO42-, Cl-, SSC, pH, SAR and

ESP exhibited strong spatial dependence indicated by a low ratio, whereas a moderate spatial

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dependence were observed in Ca2+, K+ and HCO3-.

Soil salinity and sodicity have showed both geological structure characteristics and

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statistical stochastic characteristics (He et al. 2015; Emadi et al. 2016). As presented in Table

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3, the spatial heterogeneity of soil soluble salt ions, soil salinity and sodicity indicators ranged

from 0.01 to 0.37 in the study area. All indicators showed strong spatial autocorrelation
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except Ca2+, K+ and HCO3-, which indicate the spatial heterogeneity caused by structural

factors was significantly higher than that caused by random factors in the whole study scale.
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Additionally, the R2 of all models is close to 1 and RSS is low, which indicates that the model
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can accurately reflect the spatial distribution of soil salinity and sodicity (Yu et al. 2014). The

range of variation of each index ranged from 2,282 m to 15,750 m, which exceeded the actual
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sample spacing, indicating that the sampling spacing was reasonable and could reflect the

spatial autocorrelation of soil salinity and sodicity (Wu et al. 2014).

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The spatial distribution of soil salinity and sodicity in the study area were the result of the
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comprehensive effects of structural factors (such as climate, parent material, topography, soil

type, etc.) and random factors (such as fertilization, farming management, planting system,

etc.) (Shi et al. 2005; Emadi et al. 2016). Coastal saline soils originate from marine sediments

and were immersed in seawater for a long time, with high salinity and sodicity content and

strong spatial dependence (Li et al. 2014; Yu et al. 2014). Soil texture is crucial for

desalination and dealkalization after reclamation. As shown in Figure 4, soil particle size
apparently changed due to the reclamation actions such as tillage, irrigation, and fertilization

(Li et al. 2014). The sand content decreased significantly whereas silt and clay content

increased obviously with the increase of reclamation years. Similar phenomenon was also

observed in Yangtze River Estuary and South Hangzhou Bay as described by Sun et al. (2011)

and Zhang et al. (2016). Soil texture affects soil salinity and sodicity by influencing soil

permeability, soil erosion, soil water and salt migration (Rubinić et al. 2015). Coastal tidal

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land in study area expands to seaward at a rate of nearly 150 m per year, which makes rising

of soil topography and declining of groundwater level gradually in the older reclamation

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regions and result in the reduced soil salinity and sodicity (Xie et al. 2017; Li et al. 2018).

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Earlier study also showed that soil salinity and sodicity accumulated at low-lying area, while

lower content of salinity and sodicity were observed in high-lying areas (Zhang et al. 2018).
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Meanwhile, due to the influence of abundant precipitation, the process of soil desalination and

dealkalization maintained continuously, and the soil salinity, sodicity and soluble salt ions
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showed a gradual declining trend with the increase of reclamation years (Figures 5-6, Table 1).
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In addition, the spatial distribution of soil salinity and sodicity in the study area were also

influenced by anthropogenic factors such as fertilization and plant cultivation (Emadi et al.
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2016; Wang et al. 2017). Fertilization of organic and inorganic manure can promote the

formation of soil aggregates, increase soil porosity and soil water and fertility retention
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capacity, and thus promote the leaching of soil salt ions to the lower layer (Bilgili et al. 2013;
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Zhang et al. 2015). Plants cultivation can improve soil structure and permeability through root

growth, thus changing the accumulation of soil salt ions and affecting soil salinity and

sodicity in farmland (Fu et al. 2014; He et al. 2015). Furthermore, plants can absorb soil salt

ions under corresponding conditions, and thus the cultivation area and cultivation history may

affect the spatial distribution of salinity (Feng et al. 2018).

 The distributions of salt ions, SSC, pH, SAR and ESP in surface soil were mapped and shown

in Figures 5-6. The map of interpretation of K+, Ca2+ and SO42- showed a similar spatial pattern

with the concentration gradually decreased from coastal areas to the interior reclamation area.

The concentration of Na+, Cl-, Mg2+, SSC and pH exhibited a consistent distribution patterns,

which the higher concentration were mainly distributed in areas reclaimed for 5 and 30 years,

whereas lower concentration were distributed in areas reclaimed for 38 and 61 years. The spatial

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pattern of HCO3- showed higher concentration scattered in the middle of the study area and lower

concentration located in the southeast and northwest of the study area. The distribution of SAR

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and ESP are gradually decreased with increasing years of reclamation, which highly consistent

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with the distribution of SSC, suggesting that they have a significant positive correlation.

According to Xu et al. (2014), soil salinity and sodicity can be classified as none, mild, moderate,
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high and heavy levels. As presented in Figures 5-6, the area of saline and alkaline soils above

moderate levels reached 3831.8 hm2 and 4415.1 hm2, respectively, accounting for 54.5% and
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62.7% of the total area, indicating more than half of the soils in study area were undergone
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relatively serious salinization.

Conclusions
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In this research, we analyzed the spatial distribution pattern of soil ions, soil salinity and

sodicity in a long-term coastal reclamation area in eastern China. Our results indicated that the
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levels of soil salinity and sodicity were relatively high in areas reclaimed less than 30 years.
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Meanwhile, soil salinity and sodicity showed a significant positive correlation with salt ions

and declined significantly with increasing years of reclamation except HCO3-. The spatial

distribution of salt ions and salinity and sodicity indicators showed a similar spatial pattern,

with higher concentration distributed in areas reclaimed for 5 and 30 years, and lower

concentration scattered in areas reclaimed for 38 and 61 years. The spatial distribution of soil

salinity and sodicity are the result of the comprehensive effects of structural factors and random
factors. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the contribution degree of each influencing

factor and the compound influencing mechanism of soil salinity and sodicity in the future

research.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Department of Natural and Resources of Rudong County for

providing more help with field sample collection.

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Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Funding

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This work was supported by the [National Natural Science Foundation of China] under Grant

[41230751]; [Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China] under Grant

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[LY19D010007]; [Initial Scientific Research Fund of Young Teachers in Zhejiang Normal

University] under Grant [ZZ323205020518001987].

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Table 1. Changes of soluble salt ions, salinity and sodicity indicators with different reclamation

years in 0–10 cm. Values under different reclamation years are mean±standard deviation;

different letters in the same row indicates significant differences between different reclamation

years at p < 0.05; n means number of sample sites.

Reclamation years

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Indicators Range Mean Tidal flat 5 years 30 years 38 years 61 years

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(n=8) (n=9) (n=11) (n=14) (n=14)

Ca2+ (cmol kg-1) 0.05-1.87 0.48 1.07±0.50a 0.79±0.52a 0.42±0.38b 0.22±0.18b 0.20±0.09b

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Mg2+ (cmol kg-1) 0.10-6.34 1.56 3.94±1.78a 3.34±1.94a 1.13±1.23b 0.43±0.27b 0.24±0.07b

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Na+ (cmol kg-1) 0.27-78.61 18.15 46.81±16.09a 33.69±12.27b 15.35±13.57c 7.70±9.84cd 1.06±1.09d

K+ (cmol kg-1) 0.01-2.39 0.53 1.20±0.43a 1.29±0.68a 0.35±0.23b 0.19±0.16bc 0.03±0.02c

HCO3- (cmol kg-1) 0.20-0.75 0.43 0.35±0.07a

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0.44±0.18a 0.44±0.07a 0.47±0.07a 0.42±0.09a

SO42- (cmol kg-1) 0.06-5.29 1.11 2.44±1.09a 2.53±1.76a 0.87±0.81b 0.38±0.41b 0.12±0.07b
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Cl- (cmol kg-1) 0.02-83.80 12.97 46.39±17.68a 23.07±12.93b 7.35±7.92c 2.39±3.60c 0.24±0.31c

SSC (g kg-1) 0.25-24.56 5.70 15.87±4.29a 11.38±5.05b 4.09±3.88c 1.71±1.85cd 0.46±0.25d

pH 7.60-9.00 8.43 8.53±0.23ab 8.72±0.15a 8.50±0.24b 8.22±0.35c 8.28±0.15c

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SAR (mmol L-1/2) 0.45-67.76 19.24 42.69±14.57a 35.06±6.02a 17.90±12.31b 10.37±9.53b 2.11±2.20c

ESP (%) 0.12-49.67 18.33 37.40±7.83a 33.13±3.81a 18.52±12.05b 10.77±9.49c 1.91±2.83d

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SSC: Soluble salt content; SAR: Sodium absorption ratio; ESP: Exchangeable sodium percentage.
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Table 2. Explained variation and significance test of soluble salt ions on soil salinity and sodicity

indicators (SSC, pH, SAR, ESP) by Monte Carlo permutation test in 0–10 cm.

Indicators Explained variation (%) F p

Na+ 84.5 293.66 0.002

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Cl- 67.1 110.36 0.002

K+ 66.1 105.45 0.002

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Mg2+ 60.5 82.62 0.002

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SO42- 57.8 73.86 0.002

Ca2+ 52.3 59.16 0.002

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HCO3- 12.5 7.37 0.012
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Table 3. Parameters of the semi-variogram models for soluble salt ions, salinity and sodicity

indicators (SSC, pH, SAR, ESP) in 0–10 cm.

Indicator Model Co Co+C Co/(Co+C) Range (m) R2 RSS

Ca2+

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Spherical 0.43 1.42 0.30 14510 0.72 0.25

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Mg2+ Spherical 0.19 2.98 0.06 13230 0.91 0.60

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Na+ Exponential 0.45 4.50 0.10 13770 0.83 2.54

K+ Gaussian 1.00 3.46 0.29 11986 0.84 0.89

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HCO3- Spherical 0.02 0.06 0.37
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SO42- Gaussian 0.88 3.77 0.23 14878 0.82 0.81

Cl- Spherical 1.67 10.74 0.16 15390 0.85 8.43

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SSC Exponential 0.24 3.49 0.07 15750 0.85 1.26

pH Gaussian 0.01 0.07 0.01 2282 0.64 2.04E-03

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SAR Exponential 0.11 2.68 0.04 10140 0.88 0.81

ESP Exponential 0.15 3.87 0.04 6870 0.84 2.39

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Co: Nugget; Co+C: Sill; RSS: Residual sum of squares.

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Figure 1. Location of the study area.

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Figure 2. Changes of soluble salt ions, salinity and sodicity indicators (SSC, pH, SAR, ESP)
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under different land covers in 0–10 cm. Values represent mean±standard deviation, different
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letters indicate significant differences among different land covers in the same reclamation

years (LSD, p < 0.05).

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Figure 3. Coordinnation biplots of reduundancy analysis (RDA
A) displayiing the relaationship

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betweenn soluble sallt ions and soil
s salinity aand sodicity
y indicators (SSC, pH, SSAR and ES
SP) in 0–

10 cm. T
The positivee and negative correlatioon between two soil pro
operties deppends on thee same or
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oppositee direction of
o arrows, and
a the corrrelation is determined
d by the projeection lengtth of the
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arrows oof two soil properties.
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Figure 4. Changes of soil sand, silt and clay contents under different reclamation years in 0–10
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cm (diameters for sand are between 0.05 and 2.0 mm, between 0.002 and 0.05 mm for silt, <

0.002 mm for clay).

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Figure 5. The spatial distribution of soluble salt content and soluble salt ions in 0–10 cm.
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Figure 6. The spatial distribution of pH, SAR and ESP in 0–10 cm.
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