Abstract: Soil is one of the main non-renewable natural resources in the world. In the Valencian Community (Mediterranean coast of Spain), it is especially important because agriculture and forest biomass exploitation are two of the main economic activities in the region. More than 44% of the total area is under agriculture and 52% is forested.
The frequently arid or semi-arid climate with rainfall concentrated in few events, usually in the autumn and spring, scarcity of vegetation cover, and eroded and shallow soils in several areas lead to soil degradation processes. These processes, mainly water erosion and
salinization, can be intense in many locations within the Valencian Community.
Evaluation of soil degradation on a regional scale is important because degradation is incompatible with sustainable development. Policy makers involved in land use planning require tools to evaluate soil degradation so they can go on to develop measures aimed at protecting and
conserving soils.
In this study, a methodology to evaluate physical, chemical and biological soil degradation in a GIS-based approach was developed for the Valencian Community on a 1/200,000 scale.
The information used in this study was obtained from two different sources: (i) a soil survey with more than 850 soil profiles sampled within the Valencian Community, and (ii) the environmental information implemented in the Geo-scientific map of the Valencian Community digitised on an Arc/Info GIS. Maps of physical, chemical and biological soil degradation in the Valencian Community on a 1/200,000 scale were obtained using the methodology devised. These maps can be used to make a cost-effective evaluation of soil degradation on a regional scale.
Around 29% of the area corresponding to the Valencian Community is affected by high to very high physical soil degradation, 36% by high to very high biological degradation, and 6% by high to very high chemical degradation. It is, therefore, necessary to draw up legislation and to establish the policy framework for actions focused on preventing soil degradation and conserving its productive potential.

Abstract: The southern Coastal Plain in Israel incorportates a transitional fringe of the desert in which three different chemical types of groundwater are found: (1) near-surface waters from springs along the Besor River course: (2) shallow- to moderate-depth waters from the slightly westward-dipping Pleistocene coastal aquifer (this aquifer, which consists of sandstone layers of the Kurkar Group, is recharged in the Coastal Plain); and (3) deep waters of the westward-dipping Upper Cretaceous Judea Group carbonates, which are recharged in the mountains in the east. A thick aquiclude of Upper Cretaceous-Tertiary rocks separates the Judea Group aquifer from the overlying coastal aquifer in the southern Coastal Plain. Isotopically light oxygen and depleted deuterium characterize the Judea Group waters, as expected from high-altitude recharge. The isotopic composition of the Coastal Plain waters is variable, but for the most part enriched in 18O and D. Within the southern Coastal Plain aquifer a southern subgroup comprises waters more depleted in heavy isotopes than those of either the northern or eastern subgroups. The Besor waters are isotopically similar to the Judea Group waters, reflecting their origin in the mountain region, and flow through the surficial river gravels and sands. It is suggested that leakage of the Besor waters into the underlying southern Coastal Plain aquifer results in mixing of the two water types. The most prominent chemical feature characterizing the groundwater of the southern Coastal Plain is Na+Cl− \textgreater 1. This Na+Cl− ratio can be maintained only by a continuous input from a non-marine source of Na. The most plausible source of this Na is the dissolution of feldspar derived from the windblown loess deposits which cover the area and/or leaching of trona minerals found in the unsaturated zone, combined with base-exchange processes.