Coastal saline Soils of India: A review

Coastal region covers a long strip along the east coast (West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu) and west coast (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala). Salinity is mainly due to the presence of saline ground water at shallow depth and frequent sea water inundation in the low lying areas. Sea water intrusion into the aquifers may be direct, but also range of complex geochemical processes like, inter-aquifer mixing, mobilization of brines, water-rock interaction and anthropogenic contamination. NaCl and Na₂SO₄ are the dominant salts, with abundance of soluble cations in the order of Na>Mg>Ca>K. The salt reaches the soil surface through capillary rise during dry season and makes the soil saline and unproductive for agriculture. Salinity ranges 0.5 dSm⁻¹ in monsoon and 50 dSm⁻¹ in summer. Proper understanding about the nature, properties and prevailing constraints related to diverse group of coastal soils is necessary to undertake better management practices to improve the productivity and quality of such low productive salty soils.