Advances in the Prediction and Remediation of Soil Salinization

Soil salinity continues to be a threat for the primary functions of soils, ranging from agricultural production to soils as the livelihood of farmers, communities, and even nations. Current climate change represents an additional, incalculable uncertainty on the increasing risk of salinization of soils caused by, e.g., an increase of occurrence, duration, and severity of droughts, altered rainfall regimes reducing the leaching potential of salts, altered cropping strategies, and land management in general. Population growth and the requirement to expand agricultural land and production is adding to the pressure on soils, and attempts to increasingly explore the use of marginal, water-limited land are contributing to the threat of salinization.

With this Special Issue on ‘Advances in the Prediction and Remediation of Soil Salinization’, we are inviting researchers to submit their views and research findings on this topic. The intent of this Special Issue is to collect and gather the broad knowledge which exists globally on this theme and is still intensively researched.

While this Special Issue will put an emphasis on the abiotic factors leading to salinization and also providing the basis for remediation, soil salinity is inevitably directly linked to plant growth, whether in agricultural production or in natural ecosystems, and thus, papers focusing on soil salinity and these links are also warmly welcomed.

More specifically, manuscripts of research are invited which may focus on laboratory or field studies and which target specific vegetation for agronomic purposes or vegetation communities of ecosystems. Studies on the consequences of climate change for the risk of salinization of soils are also very welcome. Numerical modeling studies supporting the prediction of soil salinity as a result of, e.g., climate change or change in land management are invited. Economic studies and predictions on the financial impact of soil salinization for individual farmers or national gross domestic product are equally of interest, as is research on cost of remediation of soil salinity.

The objective of this Special Issue is to collate knowledge on the topic of soil salinity, which presents novel approaches in predicting the risk of salinity to occur and ways to remediate salinity, whether in natural environments, in agriculture or rebuilt landforms such as in mining. The demand on soils will only intensify, and soil salinity will be one of the major risks which we and future generations need to control and manage.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Baumgartl
Dr. Mandana Shaygan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Soil Systems is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.