ABSTRACT
Besides the two great types of salinity reviewed above, it is also necessary to mention salinity of geological origin. This corresponds to deposits accumulated during ancient times with dry climate. In areas with supersaline water, of which the Dead Sea is a present-day example, the continental waters carried salts that precipitated at the bottom and were accumulated over long periods of time. The principal salts found in these deposits are: • Gypsum (CaSO4,2H2O). For example, in Spain (Zaragoza region)
and in Syria (Euphrates plain), considerable areas of gypsum deposits bear soils that are gypsiferous as well as saline (Machín and Navas 1998; Florea and Al-Joumaa 1998).
