Mapping soil salinization in the Shirvan plain based on Sentinel-2 data

Authors

  • Sahib Shukurov Khudaverdi Institute of Geography Public Legal Entity, Ministry of Science and Education, Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan; Department of State Land-Use Planning and Unified Real Estate Cadasrte, State Service for Property Issues, Ministry of Economy, Republic of Azerbaijan Author https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6463-2385
  • Ramil Sadigov Ali Center for Organization of Laboratory Work, Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC), Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3960-5384
  • Gunay Mammadova Israphil Institute of Geography Public Legal Entity, Ministry of Science and Education, Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan; Department of Ecology, Sumgayit State University, Sumgayit, Republic of Azerbaijan Author https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5196-4684
  • Turkan Hasanova Allahverdi Department of Soil Science and Real Estate Cadastre, Faculty of Ecology and Soil Science, Baku State University, Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5040-2599

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61308/AAYB3036

Keywords:

Sentinel-2, remote sensing, ground-based observations, digital soil mapping salinization

Abstract

In this study, we used topographic indices derived from digital elevation model (DEM), SAR and vegetation indices generated by Sentinel-2 to map soil salinization in the Kurdamir, located in the central and northern Shirvan plain of Azerbaijan Republic, and evaluated the potential of multi-source sensors to predict soil salinity. This paper reflects the results of assessing the degree of salinity of Kurdamir soils based on remote sensing technologies. Classification of soils by salinity degree was performed using indices calculated from data in Sentinel-2 spectral channels. Based on a comparative analysis of machine learning and remote sensing methods, it was found that they provide similar results for soil salinity assessment, when the study area does not cover a large area of land. Using the soil electrical conductivity (EC) values of soil sampling sites as the target variable, and the optimal environmental factors as the predictive variable, we constructed three soil salinity inversion models based on classification and regression tree (CART), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost). This work has important implications for understanding soil salinity dynamics, and could be used in further research on land and agricultural management at the regional level.

References

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1080/22797254.2019.1571870

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Published

29.10.2026

Issue

Section

Agrochemisty and Soil Science

How to Cite

Shukurov Khudaverdi, S., Sadigov Ali, R., Mammadova Israphil, G., & Hasanova Allahverdi, T. (2026). Mapping soil salinization in the Shirvan plain based on Sentinel-2 data . Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science, 32(5), 1032-1037. https://doi.org/10.61308/AAYB3036