Spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics of soil salinization and its driving factors in the lower reaches of the Shiyang River Basin from 2017 to 2023

Intelligent and high-precision monitoring of soil salinization is critical for effective soil environmental management and for protecting and improving farmland quality. This study is focused on the ecologically fragile lower reaches of the Shiyang River Basin, China and involves the use of multisource remote sensing data and weakly supervised semantic segmentation to monitor changes in soil salinization from 2017 to 2023. By integrating spatial autocorrelation analysis, geographic detectors, and a coupling coordination degree model, we systematically examined the scale-dependent aggregation effects, key driving factors, and ecological impacts that have arisen since the implementation of environmental interventions. The results reveal that salinization exhibited interannual stability but significant seasonal variation over time. Spatially, this process displayed a pattern characterized by "low-salinity core oases surrounded by high-salinity peripheries". Temperature change and groundwater depth were identified as the primary drivers, whereas interactions among other factors, such as evaporation, demonstrated synergistic enhancement effects. Furthermore, coupling coordination analysis revealed improved coordination between the soil and vegetation systems, indicating that ecological restoration measures effectively reduce the risk of ecosystem degradation. This study provides technical support for the precise management of soil salinization in arid regions and important scientific evidence for ecological restoration and decision-making strategies.