Abstract
Thailand is an agrarian country with a total land area of 51.4 × 106 hectares (ha), of which 38% are farm land, 25% are forests, and the remaining 37% cover urban area, public area, sanitation, swamp land, railroad, highways, real estate, and others. Thailand has been changed in the last five decades due to rapid population increase and land use pattern change. The encroachment of natural forests, use of marginal lands, and mismanagement of soil and water resources have degraded soil and water resources. It is estimated that degraded soils cover 31 × 106 ha or 60% of the total land area of the country, comprising six major soil problems, that is, acid sulfate soils, peat soils, sandy soils, eroded soil, mined soils, and saline soils. Saline soils are the oldest and represent one of the most important environmental problems to humanity. In Thailand, they occupy 3.5 × 106 ha area. These soils reduced the agricultural productivity in the northern region, northeastern region, the Central Plain, and along the coastal areas of the country. It is therefore important to assess and monitor soil salinization in these areas for better management of agricultural soils. This has been accomplished in Boe Klue District, Nan Province, Northern Thailand. The methodologies used are geophysical method, ground-based surveys using EM38 measurement and laboratory analysis of soil and water samples. The result showed the occurrence of salt on soil surface being derived from soil salinization as a natural phenomenon. The source of salts is found to be from strike slip of Boe Klue formation. Salinized soils have been found to coincide with shallow saline groundwater or exposure of Boe Klue formation.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Agricultural Office Boe Klue District (2009) Agricultural information. Agricultural Office Boe Klue District, Nan Province
Arunin S (1985) Management of soil salinity in Northeast Thailand. The first KKU-USAID international seminar on soil, water and crop management systems for rainfed agriculture in Northeast Thailand. Proceedings of the workshop at Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Center for Agricultural Information (2005) Agricultural statistics of Thailand crop year 2004–2005. Office of Agricultural Economics, Bangkok, Thailand, p 142
Im Samut S, Chuaedee N (2005) Geological map, sheet Boe Klue (5247 III). Department of Mineral Resources, Thailand
Im-Erb R, Pongwichian P (2003) Salt-affected soils in Thailand. Workshop on the management of salt-affected soils. Department of Agriculture, Bangkok, Thailand, p 13
Im-Erb R, Yamclee P, Supanit T (2004) Integrated management for sustainable use of salt-affected soils/land degradation assessment in drylands in Thailand. Paper presented at regional workshop on integrated management for sustainable use of salt-affected soils/land degradation assessment in drylands “LADA” Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, People’s Republic of China, 11–14 June 2004
Labuda ZT, Baxter CA (2001) Mapping karst conditions using 2D and 3D resistivity imaging methods: In: Powers M (ed) Proceedings of the symposium on the application of geophysics to engineering and environmental problems, environmental and engineering geophysical society, CD-ROM, Paper GTV-1
Land Development Department (1993) Saline soils. Technical handbook. Land Development Department, Bangkok, p 343
Loke MH (1998) RES2DINV version 3.3: rapid 2D resistivity and IP inversion using the least-squares method. Computer disk and manual, Penang, Malaysia
Roth MJS, Mackey JR, Mackey C, Nyquist JE (1999) A case study of the reliability of multi-electrode earth resistivity testing for geotechnical investigations in karst terrains, In Beck BF, Pettit AJ, Herring JG (eds) Proceedings of the 7th multidisciplinary conference on sinkholes engineering and environmental impacts of karst, Balkema, pp 247–252
Sinanuwong S, Takaya Y (1974) Saline soil in Northeast Thailand: their possible origin as deduced from field evidence. Southeast Asia Study 12(1):105–120, Kyoto University, Japan
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Im-Erb, R., Neawsuparb, K., Sombatpanit, S. (2013). Soil Salinization Assessment and Monitoring at Boe Klue District, Nan Province, Northern Thailand. In: Shahid, S., Abdelfattah, M., Taha, F. (eds) Developments in Soil Salinity Assessment and Reclamation. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5684-7_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5684-7_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-5683-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-5684-7
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)