Identification of Dust Source Areas and its Characteristics in Eastern Iran

Authors

10.22052/deej.2018.7.25.1

Abstract

Introduction: Dust storms are natural hazards that effects on weather conditions, human health and ecosystem. Atmospheric processes are directly affected by the absorption and diffusion of radiation by dust, and dust in the cloud acts as a nucleus of congestion. The main dust regions in the world are arid topographies that have soil that is vulnerable to erosion and poor vegetation, easily eroded by wind. Due to its presence in the dry and semiarid belt of the world, Iran is exposed to multiple local and transboundary dust and dust systems. Iran and especially eastern Iran are exposed to severe environmental challenges such as storm dust. Land use change and soil erosion-sensitive soils are one of the most important factors affecting the creation of dust source areas.
 
Material and Methods: The purpose of this study is to identify and determine the characteristics of dust source areas in eastern Iran. The study area is in the eastern part of Iran with an area of about 3711854.1704 km2. The altitude in the study area is 107 to 3527 meters above sea level. This area includes 7 provinces including North and South Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi, Semnan, Kerman, Yazd, Sistan and Baluchestan. In this research, MODIS data was used to identify the dust source area. To identify dust source area from MODIS satellite imagery for the period of 2004 to 2017 and using dust detection indicators including BTD3132, BTD2931, NDDI and D, were used. After determining the areas for dust source and preparing the distribution map of these points in the study area, the surface properties of dust source areas were investigated. In this study, landslide, geology, slope and normalized vegetation index (NDVI), which are effective in creating dust source area, were studied. Finally, to determine the characteristics of dust source areas, the mapping of the distribution map of dust source areas with land use maps, slope, NDVI and lithology in ArcGIS software environment was performed. After covering the layers, land use characteristics, slope, NDVI and lithology of dust source areas were extracted.
 
Results: Using the four parameters and the method of false color combination and applying it to the MODIS image, the dust mass was detected on the images and then, by their visual interpretation, the starting point of the dust was determined. 147 dust points were identified in the study area. The results show that the highest dust points in land use, rangeland and agricultural land with 54, 45 and 18 points, which is about 36.73%, 30.61% and 24.24% The total points of the study area are located. The distribution results show the dust points on different slopes. As you can see, most of the dust points are two slopes of 0-2 and 2-5 with 104 and 27 points, with 90% of the source points in these two slopes. The results indicate that clay-loamy soils with the 61 point of dust, accounting for about 41.5% of the total points, have the highest point. This soil contains 38.084 percent of the total area of the region. The Vegetation Indicator Map (NDVI) in the region indicates that most of the area has no vegetation or vegetation, and only a very small part of the area (less than 1%) has a vegetation that indicates the land Far East of Iran. The results also indicate that all dust points are located on the 0 to -0.394673 class, and the rest of the classes have no point of view. The results showed that the highest and lowest dust points were in the geological units of chemical-sedimentary formations and intrusive rocks with a number of 43 and 0 source of dust.
 
Discussion and Conclusions: The results show that most of the dust source areas in land use and rangeland uses 54 and 45 points, which is about 37% and 31% of the total source points of the study area. The results also showed that among different soils, the highest point of dust with clay-loamy soil texture with 61 points was observed (about 41.5% of total source points). Also, most dust source area are visible in areas with low slope and no vegetation cover. From the perspective of geology, the highest and lowest dust points in the region are located in the geological units of the sedimentary chemical formations and intrusive rocks of the player.

Keywords

References

1. Ackerman, S.A., 1997. Remote sensing aerosols using satellite infrared observations. Journal of Geophysical Research 102, 17069–17080. 2. AlizadehChoobari, O., Zawar-Reza, P., Sturman, A., 2014. The global distribution of mineral dust and its impacts on the climate system: A review. Atmospheric Research 138(1), 152-165. 3. Boroghani, M., Pourhashemi, S., Zangane Asadi, M.A., Moradi, H., 2017. Dust source identification in the middle east by using remote sensing. Natural hazards environment magazine 66 (11), 101-118. (in Persion) 4. Bullard, J., Baddock, M., McTainsh, G. Leys, J., 2008. Sub-basin scale dust source geomorphology detected using MODIS. Geophysical Research Letters 35(15), 1-19. 5. Bullard, J.E., 2010. Bridging the gap between field data and global models: current strategies in aeolian research. Earth Surface Process Landforms 35, 496–499. 6. Cao, H., Amiraslani, F., Liu, J., Zhou, N., 2015. Identification of dust storm source areas in West Asia using multiple environmental datasets. Science of the Total Environment 502, 224-235. 7. Crouvi, O., Schepanski, K., Amit, R., Gillespie, A.R., Enzel, Y., 2012. Multiple dust sources in the Sahara Desert: the importance of sand dunes. Geophysical Research Letters 39, L13401. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2012GL052145. 8. Dawelbait, M., Morari, F., 2012. Monitoring desertification in a Savannah region in Sudan using Landsat images and spectral mixture analysis. Journal of Arid Environments 80, 45-55. 9. Floyd, K.W., Gill, T.E., 2011. The association of land covers with aeolian sediment production at Jornada Basin, New Mexico, USA. Aeolian Research 3, 55–66. 10. Goudie, A., 2014. Review Desert dust and human health disorders. Environment International 63(3), 101-113. 11. Hahnenberger, M., Kathleen, N., 2014. Geomorphic and land cover identification of dust sources in the eastern Great Basin of Utah, U.S.A. Geomorphology 204(2), 657-672. 12. Hao, X., Qu, J.J., Hauss, B., Wang, C., 2007. A high-performance approach for brightness temperature inversion. International Journal of Remote Sensing 28(21), 4733-4743. 13. Jewell, P.W., Nicoll, K., 2011. Wind regimes and aeolian transport in the Great Basin, U.S.A. Geomorphology 129, 1–13. 14. Karimi, k., Shahraeni, H., NowKhandan, M., Hafezi Moghadas, N., 2011. Dust source identification in Middle East with used remote sensing. Journal of Climatology Research 7(2), 57-72. (in Persion) 15. Khanjani Safdar, A.R., Ahmadi, A., Sadeghzadehreihan, M.E., 2016. Determination of Crop Management Factor at Different Growth Stages of Rainfed Chickpea in Semiarid Region for Using in USLE Model: A Case Study in Tikmeh Dash of East Azerbaijan. Applied Soil Research 3(1), 78-88. (in Persion) 16. Lee, J., Baddock, M., Mbuh, M., Gill, T., 2012. Geomorphic and land cover characteristics of aeolian dust sources in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, USA. Aeolian Research 3(4), 459-466. 17. Lee, J., Gill, T., Mulligan, K., Acosta, M.D., Perez, A., 2009. Land use/land cover and point sources of the 15 December 2003 dust storm in southwestern North America. Geomorphology 105(2), 18-27. 18. Lee, J., Kandakji, T., Lee, J., Tatarko, j., Blackwell, J., Gill, T., Collins, J., 2018. Blowing dust and highway safety in the southwestern United States: Characteristics of dust emission “hotspots” and management implications, Science of the Total Environment 621, 1023–1032. 19. Lim, J.Y., Chun, Y., 2006. The characteristics of Asian dust events in Northeast Asia during the springtime from 1993 to 2004. Global and Planetary Change 52(1-4), 231-247. 20. Lindley, T.T., Vitale, J.D., Burgett, W.S., Beierle, M.J., 2011. Proximity meteorological observations for wind-driven grassland wildfire start on the southern High Plains. Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology 6, 1–27. 21. Mahowald, N.M., Bryant, R.G., Del Corral, J., Steinberger, L., 2003. Ephemeral lakes and desert dust sources. Geophysical Research Letters 30(2), 1074-1083. 22. Miller, M.E., Bowker, M.A., Reynolds, R.L., Goldstein, H.L., 2012. Post-fire land treatments and wind erosion lessons from the Milford Flat Fire, UT, USA. Aeolian Research 7(4), 29–44. 23. Moridnejad, A., Karimi, N., Ariya, P., 2015. Newly desertified regions in Iraq and its surrounding areas: Significant novel sources of global dust particles. Journal of Arid Environments 116, 1-10. 24. Namdari, S., Karimi, N., Sorooshian, A., Mohamadi, G.H., Sehatkashani, S., 2018. Impacts of climate and synoptic fluctuations on dust storm activity over the Middle East, Atmospheric Environment 173, 265-276. 25. Niknahad Gharmankhar, H., Jafari Fotomi, A., Sheydaie Karkaj, A., 2013. Effect of Enclosure Restoration Practices on Physical and Chemical Soil Properties in Arid Region of Maraveh Tapeh, Golestan Province. Applied Soil Research 1(2), 114-124. (in Persion) 26. Parajuli, S.p.S., Zender, C., 2017. Connecting geomorphology to dust emission through high-resolution mapping of global land cover and sediment supply. Aeolian Research 27, 47–65. 27. Pourghasemi, H.R., Kerle, N., 2016. Random forests and evidential belief function-based landslide susceptibility assessment in Western Mazandaran Province, Iran. Environmental earth sciences 75(3), 185. Link: https:// doi: 10.1007/s12665-015-4950-1 28. Pourhashemi, S., Boroghani, M., Zangane Asadi, M. A., and Moradi, H., 2016. Analysis relation of vegetation cover on the number of dust event in khorasan razavi using geographic information system and remote sensing. Remote sensing and GIS in natural resources 6(4), 33-45. (in Persion) 29. Rashki, A., Kaskaoutis, D.G., Rautenbach, C., Eriksson, P.G., Qiang, M., Gupta, P., 2012. Dust storms and their horizontal dust loading in the Sistan region, Iran. Aeolian Research 5(3), 51-62. 30. Rivera Rivera, N.I., Gill, T.E., Bleiweiss, M.P., Hand, J.L., 2010. Source characteristics of hazardous Chihuahuan Desert dust outbreaks. Atmospheric Environmental 44, 2457–2468. 31. Roscovensky, J.K., Liou, K.N., 2005. Differentiating airborne dust from cirrus clouds using MODIS data. Geophysical Research Letters 32, L12809.Doi: 10. 1029/2005GL022798. 32. Sankey, J.B., Wallace, C.S.A., Ravi, S., 2013. Phenology-based, remote sensing of post-burn disturbancewindows in rangelands. Ecological Indicators 30, 35–44. 33. Shao, Y., Wyrwoll, K.H., Chappell, A., Huang, J., Lin, Z., McTainsh, G.H., 2011. Dust cycle: an emerging core theme in Earth system science. Aeolian Research 2(4), 181–204. 34. Sissakian, V., Al-Ansari, N., Knutsson, S., 2013. Sand and dust storm events in Iraq. Journal of Natural Science 5(10), 1084-1094. 35. Vickery, K., Eckardt, F., 2013. Dust emission controls on the lower Kuiseb River valley, Central Namib. Aeolian Research 10(3), 125-133. 36. Walker, A. L., Liu, M., Miller, S. D., Richardson, K. A., Westphal, D.L., 2009. Development of a dust source database for mesoscale forecasting in southwest Asia. Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres 114(D18), Link: https:// doi: 10.1029/2008JD011541, 2009. 37. Wang, X., Zhou, Z., Dong, Z., 2006. Control of dust emissions by geomorphic conditions, wind environments and land use in northern China: an examination based on dust storm frequency from 1960 to 2003. Geomorphology 81, 292–308. 38. Warren, A., Chappell, A., Todd, M.C., Bristow, C., Drake, N., Engelstaedter, S., Martins, V., M'bainayel, S., Washington, R., 2007. Dust-raising in the dustiest place on earth. Geomorphology 92, 25–37. 39. Zobeck, T., Baddock, M., Pelt, R., Tatarko, J., Acosts-Martinez, V., 2013. Soil property effects on wind erosion of organic soils. Aeolian Research 10, 43-51.
Desert Ecosystem Engineering
Volume 8, Issue 25
January 2020
Pages 39-52

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics