ABSTRACT
Desertification due to salt damage has recently become a serious problem throughout the world. Salt damage is a phenomenon where salt in the groundwater gets concentrated at the ground surface and kills vegetation. In this study salt damage due to disequilibrium of water balance was simulated with unsaturated soil/water coupled simulation code, as applied the material transport equation. Evaporation and precipitation cycles were applied to a model of ground that contained salty groundwater in its deep region. This allowed the successful reproduction of the phenomenon of salt accumulation on the ground surface. Additionally, identical climatic conditions were applied to model grounds consisting of two types of soil, different in terms of their soil-water retention characteristics. It was found that two methods of overlay and insertion of a layer of coarse-grade material, known as ‘mulching’, are effective in the prevention of salt accumulation.
