Salinity Distribution in the County of Newell

The County of Newell has 2 132 saline seeps which occupy a total of 9 186 ha (22 689 ac), 1.5% of the County's total area. The visibly saline areas have such high salinity levels that annual crops cannot be grown and forage crops have significantly reduced yields. Often the lands surrounding the visibly saline areas are also weakly saline, resulting in reduced yields especially for salt-sensitive crops.
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Salinity type	Number of seeps	Area (ha)	Percent of total saline area
Contact/slope change	32	56.73	0.6
Outcrop	4	4.67	0.1
Depression bottom	285	1 955.05	21.2
Coulee bottom	5	255.45	2.8
Artesian	1	0.86	0.01
Irrigation canal seepage	704	3 140.22	34.2
Natural/irrigation	1 101	3 773.46	41.1
Total	2 132	9 186.41	100

Natural/irrigation salinity occupies the greatest area (41.1% of all saline land in the County), followed by irrigation canal seepage salinity (34.2%), depression bottom salinity (21.2%), coulee bottom salinity (2.8%), contact/slope change salinity (0.6%), outcrop salinity (0.1%), and artesian salinity (0.01%). There is no evidence that slough ring salinity occurs in the County.

Number of saline seeps by type in the County of Newell

Please refer to Salinity Classification, Mapping and Management in Alberta for more information.

For more information about the content of this document, contact Karen Raven.
This document is maintained by Laura Thygesen.
This information published to the web on February 12, 2004.
Last Reviewed/Revised on December 4, 2017.