How Road Salt Effects Vegetation
Putting sodium chloride on highways and sidewalks can cause detrimental effects on vegetation. Sodium chloride and many other chemicals in road salt have been proven to harm how plants and grass grow. When sodium chloride and the chemicals in road salt interact with grass they can ruin the grass 's development and even cause it to die.
Grass growth can be shown with four stages of maturity (Discuss the Basics of Grass Growth). The seedling stage happens when the grass stem starts to protrude from the soil, but the roots have not begun to develop underneath the soil, the leaves have begun to develop as well. Grass then enters the vegetative state, this is when the leaves continue to grow and
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The chemicals from road salt melt the ice, which seeps into the soil by the plants, and negatively affects how grass can grow(Salt)The toxins in road salt cause grass tissue damage when it contains a chloride ion. The mixture of salt in the water that gets to the plants increase stress onto the grass. Salt effects the quality of soil and mineral nutrition diminishes(Jdlainer). When road salt melts, it goes into the runoff water and can end up in ponds, rivers, streams, and groundwater. The salt that ends up in the ponds, streams, and rivers adds a layer of salt water, which restrains nutrients away from underwater vegetation and organisms (Beaudry, Frederic). The chemicals cause many different reactions to the vegetation, which results in the plants dying.
The harmful effects of sodium chloride and other chemicals can damage vegetations development and can cause plants to die. After road salt is applied to major highways, there is a considerable amount of salt left over and the residue can cause serious problems on the environment. When road salt is being used it should be more controlled and the amount should be managed so that there are no left-over chemicals on the road that could cause damage. Overall, road salt has proven to be detrimental to the environment and immediate action need to be