Soil salinization as an effect of grazing in a native grassland soil in the Flooding Pampa of Argentina

The salt regimes in soil under grazed and ungrazed natural grassland were compared on a Natraquoll in the Flooding Pampa of Argentina. The salt concentration in the topsoil of the grazed land increased sharply and episodically after flooding, whereas in the ungrazed land it did not. When the area was flooded groundwater rose and increased the salt content of the deep horizons. Thereafter the topsoil became salinized during drought when the atmospheric water demand was large. The evaporation from the soil surface in the grazed area was faster than in the enclosed field, being probably the cause of the accumulation of salts in the topsoil.