17 Pags.- 9 Figs.- 8 Tabls. Data Availability Statement
The data used in this study are available upon request from the authors. © 2023 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license., Small (<1 km2) saline wetlands scattered across the landscape often go unnoticed or are threatened by urbanization or other interventions, despite their role as biodiversity shelters. This study is needed to show methods for monitoring this specific kind of wetland, and to guide the selection of analytical techniques. We provide data and comparisons for salient soil traits of two quasi-pristine gypsiferous and saline wetlands named Farrachuela (FA) and Agustín (AG). The soil characteristics presented in this article are a more sensitive indicator of their ecological status than some of the most used indicators, such as birds and plants. We found significant differences between the two saladas in percent water saturation, equivalent calcium carbonate, gypsum content, and soil salinity expressed as electrical conductivity both of 1:5 soil-to-water ratio and of saturation extracts. The differences were also significant in the concentrations of Mg2+, Na+, and Cl−, while they were non-significant for Ca2+, HCO32−, and SO42−. The mean contents of the six ions were lower in FA than in AG. Both pH and sodium adsorption ratios were significantly different between the two wetlands. The data are mainly examined and plotted by displaying their non-parametric statistics, a synoptic approach that will allow us to monitor the evolution of the wetlands against both traditional agricultural pressures and emerging green energy infrastructures. Last but not least, we discuss the shortcomings of some standard laboratory methods when applied to gypsum-rich soils., This research was made possible by the grant PID2021-127170OB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, and the grant TED2021-130303B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the “European Union NextGeneration EU/PRTR”., Peer reviewed

17 pages, 11 figures.-- Data Availability Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, Shallow lakes in semi-arid environments are very sensitive to hydrological alterations associated with climate change. Their shorelines and geometry can change according to water level fluctuations. Gallocanta Lake (NE Spain) is a typical example of such lacustrine conditions because it is exposed to strong winds parallel to its elongation axis and is located in a semi-arid Mediterranean environment. In this work, a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of the area is used to compare the distribution of coastal forms (beaches, barrier islands, deltas, lagoons, etc.) with the frequency at which different water levels are attained. As a result, a clear relationship is obtained between presently active forms and the water levels most frequently reached in the lake. It is deduced that, once formed, the surrounding coastal plains related to these coastal forms control the permanence of water around a given height interval, favouring the development of these morphologies, in a positive feedback mechanism only broken by subsequent climate warming and lake water lowering. The hydrodynamic conditions responsible for activating the coastal forms have been analysed by applying a mathematical model of wind-driven currents in the lake that predicts the present erosional/progradational trends associated with them. The combination of the different results obtained was used to generate a synthetic map of active coastal processes and trends along the lake shore during high water episodes, with two versions according to the two dominant wind scenarios in the region. The distribution of erosion/sedimentation trends along the lake shores has helped to propose the existence of longitudinal littoral cells, each one recording different shoreline trend (retreat, progradation, and stability), depending on the prevailing wind scenario. This synthetic scheme can be useful for predicting the eco-morphological trends of the lake shore and adapting the present management practices in this protected area accordingly, This work has been funded by Fundación Biodiversidad (grant ‘Monitorización de precisión de las fluctuaciones de agua de humedales salinos intermitentes RAMSAR en la cuenca media del Ebro mediante teledetección espacial’) and by the grants PCI2018-092999 and PID2021-127170OB-I00 from MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, both of them co-funded by the European Union, With the institutional support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S), Peer reviewed

10 Pags.- 2 Figs.- 2 Tabls. Data Availability: DOI 10.17632/c9cryjc53k.3 (Mendeley Data), A 1974 agronomic report on salinity in Bardenas, Spain, plus some outreach brochures (Original data) © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license, This article presents the results of soil and water analysis plus the plans —or “maps”— from the Report [1] issued 1974 on salt-affected soils in a new irrigation district located in the semi-arid Bardenas area of Aragón, northern Spain (Fig. 1). The survey was carried out by the now defunct Institute for Agrarian Reform and Development (i.e., IRYDA by its Spanish acronym). Work began in January 1972, with a preliminary reconnaissance survey on 53,000 ha using aerial photographs at a scale of 1:32,000 from the USAF photogrammetric flight of 1956-57 which covered almost the whole of Spain. Photographs from this flight are available on the Spanish aerial photograph viewer (
https://fototeca.cnig.es/fototeca/
). At that time, levelling for irrigation had not yet begun. This reconnaissance allowed the selection of an area of 32,300 ha (Fig. 1) with relevant salinity symptoms, like irrigated fields with irregular or no crop growth. A more detailed photo interpretation of the area was carried out at 1:12,000 scale from a flight in August 1971.

The new irrigation district is fed by high quality water from the Pyrenees, but soon faced salinity problems that were well known to the farmers and echoed by the media [2, 3, 4] in an environment of great social concern about increasing agricultural production [5]. The Report, written in Spanish, is dated July 1974, but the soil profiles were described and sampled between April 1972 and March 1974. The Report [1] consists of two volumes, the first is a Memoria containing data from the surveys, laboratory analyses, pedological descriptions and some photographs of the soils and other land features of agricultural importance, as well as data and calculations for designing the drainage of selected plots. The second volume consists of five folded plans: a) location of the surveyed area at the scale of 1:200,000, and four plans at the scale of 1:25,000, b) soil-geomorphologic units, c) soil units describing their characteristics, d) land use, and e) locations of the described soil profiles and other field observations. Taken together, these data, improved by our orthorectification, gives a picture of the salinity and other soil properties in this area. The reuse of the data for comparisons with the evolution of agriculture in subsequent years —especially soil salinity and sodicity— will help to evaluate the agricultural practices over the last fifty years, particularly after intensive land levelling and irrigation., This research was made possible by the grant PID2021-127170OB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, and the grant TED2021-130303B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the “European Union NextGeneration EU/PRTR”., Peer reviewed

12 Pags.- 5 Figs.- 2 Tabls. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license., Information about the reducing conditions in hypersaline wetland soils is scarce though redox traits are of ecological and agronomical interest. We studied the soils and water in Salineta playa-lake (NE Spain) plus the soil redox conditions using IRIS (Indicators of Reduction in Soils) films during 17 months. Soils had a pH varying from 6.8 to 7.8, a mean gypsum content of 38 %, a mean organic carbon content of 0.6 %, and soil salinity ranged from 219 to 66 dS m−1 in the saturated paste extract. Soil horizons showed distinct morphological features consistent with a redox potential (Eh) ranging from +434 to −108 mV. Minimum Eh occurred in the upper soil horizon indicating intensified reducing conditions with a transition to aerobic conditions with depth. Sulfidic and Anoxic conditions prevailed during the annual cycle despite temporary drying. The IRIS films revealed an irregular removal of manganese and iron oxide coatings through time and through the film depth as triggered by pulses of the water level. The monthly removal rate was 10.6 % for manganese and 5 % for iron films. Iron removal showed a delayed and irregular response due to the alkaline conditions. The persistent accumulation of sulfides in the soil resulted in a distinctive black soil layer which can be a key feature for future monitoring of the impacts of the agricultural flows from surrounding irrigated lands. Further research on pedogenesis of arid wetlands will help the soil resource inventories and the understanding of the various life adaptations to these conditions., This work has been supported by the grant PCI2018-09299, PID2021-127170OB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, and the grant TED2021-130303B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGeneration EU/PRTR., Peer reviewed

12 Pags.- 6 Figs.- 2 Tabls. Data Availability Statement: The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author. © 2024 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license., This article examines the clay mineralogy of twelve representative soils developed from gypsum-rich parent materials on several geomorphic positions. These soils were classified as Haploxerept, plus one profile as Humixerept and another as Xerorthent. The clay mineralogy, determined by X-ray diffraction, showed quite a similar clay composition in all profiles, with mica, chlorite, and smectite, from most to less abundant. Mica and chlorite are deemed inherited, while smectite—appearing in minor proportions—could result from both transformation and/or neoformation, because the leaching of bases by free drainage does not favor the transformation of mica to smectite. Therefore, the differences in clay mineralogy appeared to be lithogenic rather than pedogenic. These compositional data are an advance in the basic knowledge of the studied soils., This research was made possible by the grant PID2021-127170OB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, and the grant TED2021-130303B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR”., Peer reviewed

15 Pags.- 5 Figs.- 3 Tabls. Data Availability Statement: The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors upon request. : © 2025 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
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Attribution (CC BY) license., Saline lakes are rare and fragile habitats with a high conservation and scientific interest. We have studied the presence of microplastics (MPs) in the water of four inland saline lakes located in the Central Ebro Basin (CEB), NE Spain. Quantification and characterization of MPs were performed by optical microscopy and micro-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (micro-FTIR). MPs analyzed covered the 5–5000 μm range. Most of the MPs collected were contained in the 250–500 and 500–1000 μm ranges. The concentration of MPs varied from 850 ± 271 to 1556 ± 59 MPs/L, fibers being the most dominant typology. Seven different colors were observed, the most abundant being black, and seven types of plastic were identified, polyester, polyethylene terephthalate, and nylon the most abundant. The smallest lakes presented a more homogeneous MP size distribution and a wider variety in color and polymer composition. This work shows that the MP concentration in these lakes is at least one order of magnitude higher than previous values reported in similar environments, and it is expected to multiply fast. This highlights the importance of the hydrological characteristics of these lakes, the evapotranspiration being the only water outflow, the atmospheric deposition of MPs, and other anthropogenic causes., This work was supported by the Comillas Pontifical University through the Proyecto Propio “Microplásticos en Salinas” (PP2020_01). This research was made possible by the grant PID2021-127170OB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, and the grant TED2021-130303B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR”., Peer reviewed

21 Pags.- 7 Figs.- 10 Tabls. Data Availability Statement Geographic information data are freely available at Mendeley Data, https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/4fgvgkhhkh/1 (accessed on 27 May 2025). More data are available upon request. © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, Inland saline wetlands in the Ebro Basin (Spain) are protected by international regulations but are also threatened by the expansion of animal farms. We studied the input–output budgets of N from animal farms in four catchments of wetlands in the central Ebro Basin designated as Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. We used the N produced in animal farms as inputs and the N extracted by the crops on which manures and slurries are applied as outputs in each catchment. The balances considered the regulations concerning the slope of land where animal excreta may be applied and the doses of application. At a detailed scale, we applied the Water Erosion Prediction Program (WEPP) to the Farnaca catchment to assess the runoff and nutrients arriving to its wetland. While the Bujaraloz-Sástago basin showed a high excess of N load, in the Gallocanta basin, N extraction by crops was significantly higher than the N produced by the animal farms. Despite this lack of surplus of N from animal excreta, the groundwaters in the Gallocanta catchment are polluted by nitrates. The emphasis on N from animal farms in plans to prevent water pollution is missing the role of mineral fertilizers as the sources of pollution in basins with small N loads from animal farms. Agricultural plots in the Farnaca catchment produce significant amounts of sediments and nutrients that eventually pollute the wetland. Modelling approaches at detailed scales are required to assess the flows of materials to individual wetlands., This research was possible by the grant TED2021-130303B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR”, and the grant PID2021-127170OB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”., Peer reviewed

17 Pags.- 10 Figs.- 1 Tabl. Data availability No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study. © The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License., This article investigates Salada Farrachuela, a saline wetland situated on outcrops of the Barbastro Gypsum Formation, NE Spain, in an inland area with protected species and habitats of the Natura 2000 European network. Farrachuela is an uncultivated and intermittently flooded wetland harboring organisms adapted to high salinity. However, it is not mentioned in the official description of the Natura 2000 ES2410074 site and is not considered for conservation. The soil of salada Farrachuela differs from both the surrounding soils and the comparable saladas of Monegros, located 60 km south, in terms of gypsum content, electrical conductivity, and the proportion of major ions. The sedimentary functioning of Farrachuela and its gypseous character are illustrated here by a thin section of the soil that also shows valves of Ostracods and other organic residues; moreover, plants and specimens of Heterocypris barbara (Gauthier and Brehm 1928) grew in a lab culture of mud. The salinity and halophilous vegetation differ strongly from the surrounding non-saline gypseous land. The salient features of Farrachuela described here highlight its ecological value. Hopefully, the approach and data presented in this article will serve as a reference for future studies and comparisons with other gypseous wetlands in the world, which are often neglected and lacking appropriate methods., This research was possible by the grant TED2021-130303B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and by the “European Union NextGeneration EU/PRTR”, and the grant PID2021-127170OB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”., Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature., Peer reviewed

19 Pags.- 12 Figs.- 3 Tabls. Data availability: Soils and geomorphology of “Salada de Chiprana” RAMSAR wetland, NE Spain (Original data) (Mendeley Data). ©2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license., The multidisciplinary study of soils, past and present, and the deposits around the Salada de Chiprana Lake (Central Ebro Basin, Spain) has provided valuable insights into the genesis of the lake, with important palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic implications. The presence of a Middle Pleistocene (322.2 ± 21.6 ka) palaeosoil developed on perched aeolian deposits (CHI2) near the lake shore is evidence of ancient stages of lake bottom exposition under rather arid conditions, representing one of the oldest dated aridification episodes in the Quaternary of the Ebro Basin, coinciding with cold periods. Texture analysis of the soils and deposits, and the application of wind models to the reconstruction of the palaeowinds responsible for its genesis, helped to reconstruct the origin and conditions under which such deposits and soils developed. Regarding the genesis of the depression, the characteristics of the geological units in the lake basin, the relationship of the lake basin with fluvial terraces of the surrounding rivers, and the present morphology of the lake body, together with other indirect morphological indicators, point to the subsurface evacuation of soft sediments, very likely through piping-related processes. Additionally, a second soil (CHI1) was studied on a lacustrine terrace level at 152 m a.s.l., 8 m higher than the current level of the lake. It was dated at 9.0 ± 0.7 ka and corresponds to a period of more severe flooding of the lake during the early Holocene, an interpretation consistent with previous studies that established a Holocene age for the bottom sediments of the current lake. Altogether, our dataset indicates long-standing persistence of this lacustrine system and confirms its highly fluctuating character, typical of semiarid regimes such as the one that currently prevails in the centre of the Ebro Depression., This work was supported by the grants PID2021-127170OB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, and TED2021-130303B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the “European Union NextGeneration EU/PRTR”. This is a contribution to Andalusia Research Group (P.A.I.) RNM 328., Peer reviewed

7 Pags.- 1 Fig.- 4 Tabls. The spreadsheet ProfilesLerida04clas.xlsx is hosted at DOI: https://doi.org/10.17632/j92gxxthv4.6. © The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License., This paper facilitates access to a set of legacy soil data that will help characterize the cultural landscape and land qualities to assess soil functions, such as agricultural production, in a context of growing environmental concerns needing stewardship. We examine and summarize the data from a soil survey conducted between December 1980 and August 1981. The field soil descriptions employed quantitative and qualitative criteria that were subsequently officially codified in Spain, while the methods for chemical and physical analyses were the ones endorsed by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture. The presented information portrays the nature and the state of the soils in 1981, allowing: (i) comparisons with current and future soil conditions after the intensive agriculture introduced in past years, and (ii) evaluations of land management carried out since then. The number of soil profiles studied was 91, with 303 soil horizons distinguished, and a total of 2214 physical and chemical analyses. The interpretation and use of these results can be done, with their own approaches, by local farmers, agronomists, soil scientists, geologists, and other people interested in the environment., Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. Grant PID2021-127170OB-I00 from MCIN/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”., Peer reviewed

16 Pags.- 11 Figs.- 2 Tabls. Data availability statement: The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation. Copyright © 2026 Tierra, Castañeda, Gracia and Medina. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY)., Salinity is a determining factor for agriculture due to its effects on crops. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of European Union does not take this concept into account when distributing monetary aid to farmers. The Central Ebro Basin (CEB) presents this problem due to the semiarid climate conditions and the composition of the soils, generating an economic suffocation in the rural areas of the region. The present work aims to evaluate salinity in a dry-farmed landscape surrounding the “Saladas of Sástago-Bujaraloz,” a protected area under agricultural intensification with extreme saline conditions. We analyzed the saline composition of the soil of three saladas along transects and we surveyed the soil salinity with electromagnetic sensor (EMS) to facilitate the inspection of salinity in the field. The electrical conductivity (EC) ranged from slightly saline to very strongly saline. A 73% of the 319 soil samples analysed were very strongly saline (ECe >16 dS m−1) and half of the very strongly saline soil samples were taken in crop areas. The mean EC1:5 varied from 15 dS m−1 in the saladas to a range of 3–4.6 dS m−1 in the crops. There was a noticeable variability of the vertical distribution of soil salinity and a high salinity range in the upper soil horizons of natural areas. In general, the salinity of the integrated 100 cm of soil depth (ECe100) was higher than that of 50 cm (ECe50). The correlation between the EMS readings and EC varied between saladas, between horizontal and vertical readings, and between integrated soil depths. The best relationship was found with a soil depth of 0–100 cm and with horizontal EMS readings. The identified salinity patterns are consistent and applicable in the whole area of about 150 saladas. The purpose is to suggest salinity as an agronomic criterion within the CAP regulations. A proposed new agri-environment-climate measure could include classifying plots with ECe >10 dS m-1 in more than 50% of the area as unsuitable for cultivation., The author(s) declared that financial support was received for this work and/or its publication. This research was possible by the grant TED2021-130303B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR”, and the grant PID2021-127170OB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”., Peer reviewed

Shallow lakes in semi-arid environments are very sensitive to hydrological alterations associated with climate change. Their shorelines and geometry can change according to water level fluctuations. Gallocanta Lake (NE Spain) is a typical example of such lacustrine conditions because it is exposed to strong winds parallel to its elongation axis and is located in a semi-arid Mediterranean environment. In this work, a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of the area is used to compare the distribution of coastal forms (beaches, barrier islands, deltas, lagoons, etc.) with the frequency at which different water levels are attained. As a result, a clear relationship is obtained between presently active forms and the water levels most frequently reached in the lake. It is deduced that, once formed, the surrounding coastal plains related to these coastal forms control the permanence of water around a given height interval, favouring the development of these morphologies, in a positive feedback mechanism only broken by subsequent climate warming and lake water lowering. The hydrodynamic conditions responsible for activating the coastal forms have been analysed by applying a mathematical model of wind-driven currents in the lake that predicts the present erosional/progradational trends associated with them. The combination of the different results obtained was used to generate a synthetic map of active coastal processes and trends along the lake shore during high water episodes, with two versions according to the two dominant wind scenarios in the region. The distribution of erosion/sedimentation trends along the lake shores has helped to propose the existence of longitudinal littoral cells, each one recording different shoreline trend (retreat, progradation, and stability), depending on the prevailing wind scenario. This synthetic scheme can be useful for predicting the eco-morphological trends of the lake shore and adapting the present management practices in this protected area accordingly., 17 páginas