Quick scan salinity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia -and the potential of using saline resources to increase vegetation cover
The project is part of the overall project of “Greening Saudi Arabia” and was commissioned by KAUST.
This first part was mostly a “quick scan” to determine the extent of salinization in Saudi Arabia and the salt concentrations of the soils and water resources. Based on this, a first assessment was made to determine the potential for cultivating crops and trees under the prevailing saline conditions. For this, a classification of salt-affected soils and water was presented.
This was followed by a first salinity assessment in Saudi Arabia, based on the readily available literature.
Then, a short overview of crop salt tolerance was presented.
Finally, a first assessment was given of the potential of using the saline resources in Saudi Arabia to increase vegetation cover in the Kingdom.