EVALUATION OF SOIL SALINITY OF THE FETZARA LAKE REGION (NORTH-EAST ALGERIA)

Abstract

Fetzara lake, located at 18 km southwest of Annaba city, is one of the largest lakes in the  extreme  northeastern  Algeria.  In  2002,  the  Ramsar  convention  classified  it  among  the  wetlands  of  international  importance.  In  this  study,  we  aim  to  evaluate  soil  properties  of  Fetzara  lake  region,  which  are  very  sensitive  to salinization  phenomena,  and  their  evolution  according  to  depth.  A sampling companion was carried out on the first two superficial levels 0 to 25 cm and 25 to 50 cm. A total of 24 samples, gathered from 12 sites distributed around the lake perimeter, were analyzed for their physical and physico-chemical properties. Results show that the majority of the soils samples are classified as saline soils (ESP ≤ 15%, EC > 4 mS cm ^-1 ), with a highly variable electrical conductivity (6.52 to 24.3 mS cm ^-1 ), reaching its maximum in both northeastern (Wadi Zied town) and southeastern part of the lake (Cheurfa town). Moreover, the soil solutions are characterized by the abundance of ions  such  as  Cl ^- ,  SO₄^2- ,   Na ⁺   and  Mg ²⁺ ,  giving  a  dominant  sodium  chloride  facies  in  most  of  the analyzed samples.