Land surface analysis of salt affected soils using DEM and GIS

The main objective of the current study is to use the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Geographic Information System (GIS) to characterize the surfaces of saline soils. To fulfill this objective two pilot areas represents different soil texture were selected. The first area located to the north of the Nile Delta (alluvial plain) where the second is located at North Sinai (aeolian plain. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) images were used for land surface analyses. The spatial analyst function of ARC-GIS software has been used to produce digital maps of water table and soil salinity. The results indicate that the soil salinity exhibits the low-lying elevation, flat or nearly flat areas (slope < 1%) slopping surfaces of north or south directions. The correlation between water table and soil salinity is significant (R2= 0.714) in the Aeolian plain while it is not significant (R2= 0.422) in the alluvial plain. Information on land surface becomes a must for the management of salt affected soils.