Restoration and reutilization evaluation of coastal saline-alkaline degraded lands in Yellow River Delta

The coastal saline-alkaline degraded lands are important land resources that are prepared to be developed. Taking Yellow River Delta as study area, restoration and reutilization evaluation of coastal saline-alkaline degraded lands with the purpose of agriculture use was carried out. The evaluation units were produced by overlaying soil map with land-use map, and evaluation factors were chosen by cluster analysis and Delphi method. Then the weights of factors were determined by analytic hierarchy process method and the grades of restoration and reutilization about coastal saline-alkaline degraded lands were evaluated by fuzzy evaluation method. The results showed that the potentiality of restoration and reutilization of coastal saline-alkaline degraded lands was great. The first and the second grades were 33.73% of the whole area, the third and the fourth grades were 42.54%, and the fifth and the sixth grades were only 23.73%. The grades of restoration and reutilization of coastal saline-alkaline degraded lands were greatly affected by soil salt content, groundwater mineralization and depth and land use degrees. Also the grades were closely influenced by the distance away from the Yellow River and Bohai Sea and improved from seaside to inland gradually. The closer the lands are away from the Yellow River, the higher their grades are. This study explores the evaluation method of restoration and reutilization of coastal saline-alkaline degraded lands, and it has positive significance to sustainable utilization of coastal saline-alkaline degraded lands.