MAPPING SOIL ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY AS AN INDICATOR OF SOIL SALINITY IN THE CITY OF NOUAKCHOTT (MAURITANIA)

The city of Nouakchott faces challenges linked to soil salinity, rising water tables and the absence of a sewerage system, leading to flooding during the rainy season.These conditions are disrupting urbanization and the greening of the city.All these phenomena inhibit plant growth and development due to soil hydromorphy and salinity.To remedy this situation, the Nouakchott region carried out a study to characterize soils and assess the adaptability of ornamental plants.The approach involves soil mapping.The parameters analyzed are: electrical conductivity (EC), pH, Calcium (Ca 2+), Magnesium (Mg 2+ ) and Chloride (Cl -).A total of 104 samples were collected from various representative sites in the city.GPS coordinates are well defined.Two spatial interpolation methods, Ordinary Kriging (OK) and Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), were used to estimate unmeasured values.The results show that Nouakchott's soils are saltier in the west and more alkaline in the east.Calcium predominates in the west, while magnesium is evenly distributed but more present in the east.Chlorides are also concentrated in the west.The IDW method proved to be the most effective for characterizing soils in the city of Nouakchott, with a very high correlation coefficient (R 2 = 0.99) and low errors (RMSE and MAE).