Assessment of the Impact of Sodium, Potassium, and Calcium Levels on Soil Electrical Conductivity A Case Study in Eastern Libya.

This paper presents the influences of soil chemical composition on electrical conductivity. Electrical conductivity of 17 samples from various locations which covered about 750 km east of Libya, Chemical compositions such as organic carbon, sodium, potassium and calcium, were measured. The study investigated the efficiency of the extraction method used on sodium, potassium, and calcium from the soil. It was clear that the extraction of sodium could be effective in both extraction methods used with distilled water as well as with an acidic solution, but the effectiveness of the extraction of potassium and calcium was affected whenever the extraction was performed with distilled water by half with potassium, and to less than 1% in case of calcium. Pearson’s correlation coefficients studies were employed to highlight the influence of the chemical composition on the electrical conductivity. It had been observed that positive correlation (Pearson correlation, r = 0.329 - 0.958) with all elements used in this study, The Pearson correlation for Na found to bemore than 0.95, which indicates that there is strong positive correlation, moderate positive correlation (r = 0.656 – 0.811) for Ca, and low positive correlation between EC and K(r = 0.329 – 0.362). Keywords: Electrical conductivity, Soil content, Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Pearson’s correlation coefficient.