JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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Copper is considered as one of the most important nutrient elements for plants. If its contents are concentrated higher than the standard value it can be considered as a pollutant element. The content of absorbable copper in the area around Sarcheshmeh copper mine can be significantly high. In this study, samples of soil were collected in summer through a particular sampling method with chimneys of Sarcheshmeh plant as the center of sampling area within a radius of 6km, in three different directions (Rafsanjan, Sarcheshmeh City and Sarcheshmeh mine) and. The total concentration of absorbable copper and some chemical properties of soil (i.e. pH and EC) were measured for 122 surface samples (depth of 0 to 35 cm). There was a significant negative regression between pH and total absorbable copper content, and a significant negative regression was observed between EC and total absorbable copper content. The best fitted model was spherical model, and Ordinary Kriging was applied to map the absorbable copper content. Results showed that most concentration of copper occurred in the Rafsanjan direction. Also, regarding wind orientation which blows towards Rafsanjan, the chimneys probably have a significant effect on increasing copper content in Rafsanjan moreover, the copper content is substantially higher around chimneys than other areas. Also, transition of copper elements from chimneys by wind can be significant up to 4 km from Sarcheshmeh plant.

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In this study the effect of temperature, evaporation or evapotranspiration, precipitation, hillside direction and altitudinal classes, texture and acidity of soil on organic carbon content in the depths of 15 and 45 cm were evaluated. Paired t-test results showed that there is a significant difference between measured parameters in two soil depths. After preparing required data and processing them, outlier's data were removed. Then, base maps for each of the information layers were prepared by Arc GIS9.3 software and all relatd information fit together by overlapping them. Pearson correlation between environmental factors and soil organic carbon values were calculated and it was found that in the depth of 15 cm, the correlation between soil organic carbon values and two environmental factors including temperature and altitude were significant at the level 0.01. As well the results of statistical analysis by using principal component analysis (PCA) method showed that the factors temperature, evaporation (1%), and silt and clay (5%) have had a significant effect on the amount of soil organic carbon. The first, second, and third axes with eigenvalues of 98/4, 78/3 and 92/1, respectively, explained the values 0.33, 0.25, and 0.13 % of correlation between organic carbon and environmental data.