In the early 1980's incipient traces of point source soil salinisation became increasingly evident in many irrigated cotton growing areas of central and northern New South Wales. In the following section a brief introduction into the biophysical characteristics (e.g. geology and hydrology) and evidence of soil salinisation is provided for each of these areas. This is because waterlogging and salinisation occur as a function of interactions between various biophysical factors, which include

• Agronomy,
• Geology,
• Hydrology,
• Climate and
• Topography