1.1.1. Soil salinization

The saline and alkaline soils occupy 35.5 thousand ha in Bulgaria and are located mainly in lower and poorly drained places in the Thracian lowlands, in terraces along the Danube and in some sections along the Black Sea coast. These soils belong to the soil types of solonchaks and solonetz. They are all the product of natural salinization processes. Saline soils formed as a result of anthropogenic impacts cover an area of approximately 250 ha (Todorova, 2002) and are the result of incidents around industrial enterprises or the use of salt water for irrigation. There is no clear tendency to increase or decrease the area of saline lands.