Physical and chemical properties of some soils adjacent to lakes at north west and south of Egypt [electronic resources].

Includes reference.

This work was carried out to investigate some physical and chemical properties of salt-affected soils adjacent to Qaroun, El Borollus and Edku lakes of Egypt. Three soil profiles were taken at distances of 1.5, 10 and 20 km. from the shoreline of every lake .Undisturbed and disturbed soil samples were taken at depths of 0 - 30, 30 - 60 and 60-90 cm .The undisturbed soil samples were used for the determination of soil total porosity, pore size distribution, soil moisture retention curves, hydraulic conductivity and the soil aggregate size distribution. The disturbed soil samples were air-dried, ground to pass through a 2 mm sieve and kept for the chemical determinations. The obtained results indicated that the studied soil samples contain high total soluble salts which tend to decrease with increasing both soil sampling depth and the distance from the shoreline of different lakes under study. The high values of total soluble salts exist in case of soil samples of Qaroun lake followed by those of Borollus and Edku lakes .The values of soil pH in the studied soil samples ran~ed between 8.00 and 8.60 whereas CEC ranged from 35.21 to 51.21 c mol kg soil , and the soil contents of both organic matter and CaC03 were relatively low and tended to decrease by increasing soil depth. Soil bulk density and soil total porosity values of the studied soil sample were increased by increasing soil depth and distance from the lakes shoreline. The high values of soil total porosity were found in case of Qaroun lake soils. The values of soil hydraulic conductivity (K) were decreased by depth.

Summary in Arabic.

1