Salinity Distribution in Special Area 4

Special Area 3 has 1 455 saline seeps which occupy a total of 6 189.6 ha (15 294.4 ac), representing about 1.4% of the municipality'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.

Salinity distribution by type in Special Area 4

Salinity type	Number of seeps	Area (ha)	Percent of total saline area
Contact/slope change	223	191.9	3.1
Outcrop	34	35.6	0.6
Depression bottom	1 184	5 372.5	86.8
Coulee bottom	14	589.6	9.5
Total	1 455	6 189.6	100.0

Depression bottom salinity occupies the greatest area (86.8% of all saline land in Special Area 4), followed by coulee bottom salinity (9.5%), contact/slope change salinity (3.1%) and outcrop salinity (0.6%). There is no evidence of slough ring or artesian salinity in Special Area 4, and there is no irrigation.

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.