Mohammad Khosroshahi; Morteza Abtahi; Mohammadtaghi Kashki; Sakine Lotfinasab; Fateme dargahian; Zohre Ebrahimi
Volume 24, Issue 2 , July 2017, , Pages 404-417
Abstract
So far, different statistics have been presented for the area of deserts in the world and Iran by individuals and organizations. The reason for this difference is mainly due to the disagreement among experts in providing a comprehensive definition of desert and factors affecting its formation. In this ...
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So far, different statistics have been presented for the area of deserts in the world and Iran by individuals and organizations. The reason for this difference is mainly due to the disagreement among experts in providing a comprehensive definition of desert and factors affecting its formation. In this paper, the factors of natural environment, such as climate, vegetation, geomorphology, soil, geology and hydrology, whose effects are directly or indirectly involved in the emergence and general appearance of the desert, were investigated. Therefore, to identify and define the desert ranges in terms of the study factors, a number of indicators were defined, based on which desert zones were identified for each factor individually. Then, digital maps were produced by overlaying the layers. Results showed that the largest area of desert regions in Iran with a surface of 693690 and 567711 square kilometers is influenced by climatic and vegetation factors, respectively, and the least area of desert regions with a surface area of 208041 and 272,258 km is affected by the geological and geomorphologic factors, respectively. From the aspect of soil science, the area of desert regions in Iran covers a surface of 514930 km2. The total area of deserts was calculated to be 9007293 square kilometers, which accounts for 55 percent of the total area of Iran.
zohre ebrahimi; abasali vali; mohammad khosroshahi; reza ghazavi
Volume 24, Issue 1 , May 2017, , Pages 152-164
Abstract
Wetlands in the central Iran lakes are considered as part of desert ecosystems and their destruction leads to adverse consequences. In central part of Iran, climatic and human factors have created significant differences between dry and wet surfaces of Gavkhooni wetland in recent decades, leading to ...
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Wetlands in the central Iran lakes are considered as part of desert ecosystems and their destruction leads to adverse consequences. In central part of Iran, climatic and human factors have created significant differences between dry and wet surfaces of Gavkhooni wetland in recent decades, leading to produce more dust in central part of Iran. The aim of this research was to assess the impact of dried bed of Gavkhooni wetland on the production of the internal dust in Isfahan province by using remote sensing and storm roses in the period of 22 years (1991- 1992 to 2011-2012). For this propose, the landsat imagery and anemometer data were used. After geometric and radiometric corrections, Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) was calculated and the dry and wet surfaces were separated. To determine wind erosion threshold velocity, undisturbed soil samples were transferred to the wind erosion meter. Then, the number of dusty days in the synoptic station of Isfahan was calculated based on the wind speed greater than wind threshold speed. Relationship between the number of dusty days and dried bed of wetland was evaluated with correlation analysis. Finally, to determine the dusty wind direction from the side of Gavkhuni wetland to Isfahan station, annual and seasonal wind roses and storm roses were plotted and evaluated. The results of this study based on the artificial neural network model showed that the most important factors influencing the bed of the Gavkhuni wetland were input flow rate, evaporation, drop in groundwater level, temperature, and rainfall, respectively. The results of the correlation analysis showed that there was a significant inverse relationship between the number of dusty days and dried bed of wetland in the seasons of autumn, spring, summer and annual scale in Isfahan station. Also, results of storm roses showed that dusty winds did not blow from wetland toward this station.