The aim of research was to study the advanced reclamation techniques to deal with the irrigated land degradation (the rise of the groundwater, resalting, dehumification etc.). Re-search in this direction was undertaken in some farms in the dry steppe zone of Saratov Trans-Volga region. Development of techniques and methods of integrated GIS-based monitoring was carried out on the basis of Shareholders Company Limited “Agroindustrial firm Volga”. The object of research was degrated (hydrogenic, solonized, saline, fractured) irrigated dark chestnut soils. The prediction of water-salt regimes on the basis of mathematical modeling of moisture and salt transfer in aeration zone soils was carried out. Experimental studies have shown that the function of hydraulic conductivity and water retention of dark chestnut soils are substantially transformed by changing water nutrition type and soil absorption complex composition. A very effective method of restoring degraded land is a Green manuring. The increase of total porosity from 46.14 to 47.49 % (control – 43.68–43.89 %), aeration porosity from 19.09 to 20.25 % (control – 16.63–16.84 %), the proportion of agriculturally valuable (50.9–56.8 % relative to control – 48.3–53.8 %) and water-resistant aggregates (30.2–38.1 % relative to control – 26.2–29.6 %) leads to increased water retention of root layer; reduction of topsoil fractures and the associated water saving due to infiltration by a primary seepage paths. Information system for monitoring salt regime of irrigated land for the conditions of Saratov Trans-Volga region is designed as a salt regime geoinformation model which main components are: database and knowledge base, designed to predict the salt regime; programs to determine the water-salt regime parameters; salt regime predictive aids – computer imple-mentation of moisture and salt transfer mathematical models; digital map of controlled and adjacent lands.
Keywords: degradation, resalting, alkalinization, reclamation, Green manuring, geoinformation model of salt regime.
