"Snowlike" Saline Soils in Southern Alberta

Observation by Talea Wymenga:

While driving from Brooks in Southern Alberta to Calgary along the TransCanada highway, there are several fields that looked like a snowstorm had recently blown through the area, with large patches of bright white that glistened in the sun like snow. However, it was the middle of August with temperatures around 34 degrees Celsius. Upon further investigation, it was large accumulations of surficial salt. It is common to see areas of an agricultural field that are wetlands for part of the year, and then dry up with salt rings appearing during the later summer months. However, the large quantity of salt that had accumulated this year, 2021, was a lot more predominant and at a much higher quantity that has been observed in previous years.

“Soil salinity is caused by excess soil moisture that dissolves subsoil salts and brings those salts to the soil surface,” explains Chris Augustin, area Extension soil health specialist at North Dakota State University’s North Central Research Extension Center near Minot.

“The water evaporates and the salts are left. They accumulate and cause the white spots." While too much soil water causes salinity, the lack of snowmelt this year led to more evaporation than infiltration, causing the white spots to expand this spring. In years with more spring snowmelt, the salt spots may not be as noticeable because saline soils do not turn white unless they are dry. (https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/news/newsreleases/2015/april-27-2015/soil-salt-spots-bigger-this-year). According to historical precipitation data for Calgary Alberta, CA, this year has seen significantly less precipitation in the past 30 years. The reason there might be more prevalent and thicker saline soil patches may be due to the increasing temperatures and reduced precipitation to wet and dilute the salt in the soil.