JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

Depletion and consequently reduction in groundwater storage results in numerous harmful environmental effects such as reduction in yields of wells, land subsidence, lowering of water quality and also reduction in storage of surface water bodies having hydraulic relation with aquifers. In this research, groundwater depletion in the Najafabad subcatchment aquifer located in the GavKhouni basin, Isfahan province was evaluated. These studies indicate groundwater depletion and deterioration of the aquifer water quality during the recent years. Zayandehroud River had been effluent and it has recently converted to influent and dominantly recharges the aquifer. The groundwater depletion in this region has been due to wells overpumping and it does not comply with the uniform rainfall variations in recent years. According to the shaly aquifer bedrock, the groundwater depletion cannot be due to leakage through the bedrock. Moreover, the groundwater quality has been deteriorated in all parts of the aquifer, especially in the regional drawdown cones resulted from recently groundwater overexploitation by deep wells. The river leakage to the aquifer is predicted to be persistent and increasing according to results of the research and it is necessary to limit the groundwater extraction and change the average surface water inflow to the area to mid 1370s condition.

One of the factors leading to the contamination of water resources is human activity, producing waste materials. In this paper, the effects of contamination on the water quality of Taleghan River, was simulated using of Qual2k model and the seasonal changes were evaluated. The qualified data collected during two months, August (as the dry season) and February (as the wet season), were used in the modelling. The results showed that the dissolved oxygen change was in the range of 4.5-6.52 mg/L in August. However, it changed between 4.8-5.3 mg/l in February and this reduction in the wet season was due to the run off deposition and the seepages of farmland near the river. Furthermore, BOD in the wet season and the dry season changed by 6-31 and 10-26 mg/l, respectively. These changes were due to the sewage dilution in flow during the wet season. Evaluation of the pH values in wet and dry seasons also showed that water of the river was more alkaline in the wet season, which is due to the effect of non-point resources or the fertilizer entrance after farm land bleaching by rain. Evaluation of Taleghan river EC variation also showed these changes were not significant during the wet and dry seasons. Water temperature was altered by 3-10⁰C and 19-25⁰C, respectively, in February and August.

Sugar beet is one of the most important agricultural crops and its yield depends on irrigation water. Due to the impossibility of assessing the effect of all water amount strategies on sugar beet yield, it is necessary to use crop models such as WOFOST, AquaCrop and Cropsyst. In order to achieve this goal, a set of data collected from Shahrekord’s Agricultural Research Station were used. Treatments consisted of irrigation water amount (in five levels: E0: 100%, E1: 85%, E2: 70%, E3: 55%, and E4: 30%) based on crop evapotranspiration in different growth stages (T1: initial, T2: T2: mid-season, and T3: late season). The values of RMSE statistical criteria for the results of AquaCrop, WOFOST and CropSyst simulation were equal to 0.57, 0.68, and 0.26 ton.ha^-1, respectively. NRMSE results were also obtained to be 0.11, 0.13, and 0.05 ton.ha^-1 for the mentioned crop mpdels, respectively. The results of the EF criteria revealed that CropSyst (0.91) had better efficiency, as compared to AquaCrop (0.62) and WOFOST (0.47). Regarding the results, it is suggested to use CropSyst to simulate sugar beet yield in similar conditions.

Benthos play an important role in the transmission of primary production and organic material (detritus) accumulation of the substrate in the water ecosystems to the higher levels of food chain. Also, they are used as biological indicators to evaluate the effect of pollutants caused by human activities on water ecosystems. To evaluate the benthic communities of Zayanderood Dam Lake, 4 sampling stations were selected on the lake; then, during the year 2014, seasonal sampling at each station was performed. The sampling was carried out by using the sediment sampler instrument with the dimensions of (20 cm × 20 cm). The average temperature of surface and deep water in the Zayanderood Dam Lake during the study was estimated to be 15.6 ± 2.4 and 8.9 ± 1.8°C, respectively. The average concentration of dissolved oxygen in the surface and deep water was varied from 10.3 ± 0.6 to 8.1 ± 0.7 mg/L, respectively. Totally, 2165 samples of benthos were collected and identified in the Zayanderood Dam Lake, belonging to 3 classes, 6 orders and 5 families. The maximum number of samples belonged to Tubifex, Naididae and Chironomidae genera. The dominant genus was Tubifex in all stages. According to this study, therefore, it seems that the structure of substrate, the amount of nutrients, grazing pressure and hydrostatic pressure are the most important environmental factors that can affect benthic community in the Zayanderood Dam Lake.

Wetting pattern in a trickle irrigation system is one of the most important characteristics that should be taken into consideration for designing the irrigation systems. Improving the dimensions of the wetting pattern will increase the water use efficiency and irrigation systems. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of rice husk and its biochar application on the wetting pattern in a silty clay soil under surface trickle irrigation. A box with the length of 200, the width of 50 and the height of 100 cm was used. To easily fill and empty the model, it was filled up to a height of 50 cm. The rice husk and its biochar were added to the soil at the rates of 0, 1 and 2 mass percentages based on a factorial arrangement of the treatments in a completely randomized design with three replications. Biochar was prepared in a special furnace at 500°C without oxygen. The experiments were done with a flow rate of 4 liters per hour with the irrigation time of 3 hours. The results of the analysis of variance showed that the organic treatments increased the soil water content in the range of field capacity to a permanent wilting point; the highest increase was observed for the biochar 2% treated soil. Also, the addition of rice husk and biochar in the silty clay soil reduced the horizontal advance and increased the vertical advance wetting pattern.

This study was conducted to evaluate AquaCrop for the simulation of potato yield and water use efficiency (WUE) under different water stress values at five levels (E0, E1, E2, E3 and E4, indicating 100, 85, 70, 50 and 30 percent of crop water needed, respectively) in three times during growth cycles (T1, T2, and T3, indicating 50, 100, and 150 days after sowing, respectively). The results showed that AquaCrop had overestimated and underestimated error for the simulation of yield and WUE, respectively. Based on RMSE and NRMSE values, the errors for yield and WUE were acceptable. The maximum and minimum error were also 0.3 (E1T3) and 3.15 (E1T2), respectively. The results obtained for WUE showed that the maximum and minimum were 0.53 (E3T2) and 0.03 (E4T2), respectively. The average differences between simulated and observed results (ADSO) of WUE for E1, E2, E3 and E4 were 0.24, 0.25, 0.19, and 0.44 ton.ha^-1, respectively; the ADSO of yield for T1, T2, and T3 was 0.19, 0.36, and 0.22 ton.ha^-1, respectively. Therefore, AquaCrop showed a high error for WUE when water stress was increased and crop was in its initial crop growth.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the temporal variations of dust phenomenon and its relationship with the climatic elements in Yazd city, located near one of the critical centers of dust production in the center of Iran. For this purpose, the Dust Storm Index was first calculated. After the standardization of precipitation, temperature, maximum wind speed, average wind speed, relative humidity and, dust storm index, the co-linearity effect between variables was calculated by using inflation variance factor. Then, several regression models were prepared based on the optimal Ridge parameter. The performance of the models was evaluated based on the determination coefficient, F value and Root Mean Square Error. Finally, by using the most accurate model, the impact of climate parameters on the dust events changes was determined. The results showed that the incidence of dust events in the spring was more than the rest of the year. Based on the optimal model (Model 12), it was found that the main factor influencing the dust storm index variations in different seasons was the surface winds speed. It was also shown that 39%, 25%, 46% and 31% of dust storm index changes in winter, spring, summer, and autumn were due to the interaction of the five climatic parameters studied in this study.

In order to investigate P acquisition efficiency (PACE) and P utilization efficiency (PUTE) of the corn in the presence of phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms (PSMs), a factorial experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design in the greenhouse. The factors were including P sources (tricalcium phosphate (TCP) and rock phosphate (RP)) and microbial inoculation (control, soluble P as KH₂PO₄ (Ps), inoculation with bacteria (PSB), inoculation with fungi (PSF), co-inoculation of PSB + PSF). At the end of growth period, plant dry weight and P content in plant and soil available-P were measured and then PACE, PUTE and phosphorus efficiency (PE) indices were calculated. The results showed that, the interaction of phosphate source and microbial inoculation was significant with respect to shoot P content, soil P, PUTE and PE. PSF-TCP treatment increased 7 times shoot phosphorus content compared to cont-RP treatment.  PUTE in Cont-TCP treatment was 2.35 times higher than the TCP-P_S. The inoculation of PSF increased the PACE 1.61 times compared to co-inoculation of PSB + PSF tretment. Also, the highest PE index (99%) was obtained from SF-TCP treatment. In general, in calcareous soils with low P availability, inoculation of PSM with insoluble phosphorus sources can meet the phosphate needs of the plant.

The occurrence of wind erosion and the spread of dust particles can be regarded as one of the most important and threatening environmental factors. Climate change and the frequency of droughts have played an important role in exacerbating or weakening these events. The primary objective of the present study was to investigate the trend of changes in four important climatic elements (precipitation, temperature, wind speed and relative humidity) and dust storm index (DSI) in Qazvin city using the Mann-Kendall pre-whitened test and to determine the relationship between them based on the multiple linear regression method. Assessment of the meteorological drought status based on two standardized precipitation index and standardized precipitation, as well as the evapotranspiration index and analysis of their effect on activity level of dust events, was the other objective of this study in the study area. For this purpose, after preparing and processing the climatic data and calculating the dust storm index, the trend of changes and the relationship between climatic parameters and dust events were investigated. The results showed that the changes of trend in the annual precipitation and relative humidity in Qazvin city were increasing, while the trend of annual changes in the wind speed and the mean air temperature was a decreasing one. Investigation of the monthly changes in the dust events also showed that there was a sharp decrease in the occurrence of wind erosion and the spread of domestic dust particles only in July. On a seasonal scale, with the exception of winter that has been reported without trends, in other seasons, the intensity of these events was significantly reduced. The effect of the meteorological drought on wind erosion was estimated to be 11% at the confidence level of 99%. In general, these findings indicate a decreasing trend of land degradation and desertification caused by wind erosion in Qazvin.

In determining the allocation of water resources, the probable conditions of water resources and water demands are considered as the water allocation scenarios in the basin scale. Then, these scenarios are evaluated in the context of integrated water resources management and from the perspective of sustainable development indicators. The best scenario is selected in order to determine the water allocations. In these evaluations, there are spatial distributions and their interactions are simultaneously the key charaterictics in the decision matrix. These features are not often considered in the evaluation process. In the present study, distributed indicators and simple and integrated multi-criteria evaluation models, including ANP and CP methods, were used to evaluate the water allocation scenarios in the Aras Basin. The results showed that modeling of the spatial distribution and interactions of water allocation impacts was not possible through any of the simple multi-criteria evaluation methods. Simplifying and discarding one or two key features in the evaluation process can lead to significant uncertainties on rankings with a Spearman coefficient of -0.1. By implementing the integrated spatial decision-making approach and applying two features simultaneously, the fourth scenario was ranked first. The proposed approach was compared with the individual models, showing more accurate, with the correlation coefficients of 0.5, 0.6 and 0.7.

Water is the most crucial factor for agricultural development. Therefore, the economic evaluation of water resources is critical. The purpose of this paper was to determine the economic value of water resources, to evaluate the financial efficiency and to decide on the price of agricultural water in Arak plain. For this purpose, the economic value of water resources for wheat, barley, alfalfa and corn was identified in 2015- 2016, using the mathematical model developed in this research. The results showed that the financial efficiency was calculated for three alternatives: free-cost water, water cost equal to the 10% of the calculated price and water cost equal to the exact calculated price.  The irrigation efficiency of 40% financial efficiency was 2.38%, 1.68% and 0.47% , respectively, for the  aformentioned methods, and  the irrigation efficiency of 70% financial efficiency was 2.07, 1.92 and 0.71, respectively. Also, the sensitivity analysis of the financial efficiency was performed, with 10% change in the farmers income and costs. The results also revealed that irrigation efficiency and financial efficiency were not aligned when farmers had free water; however, they were aligned when the farmer paid 10% of the calculated price. Financial efficiency was more sensitive to changes in the farmers income when compared to the changes in costs.

Land subsidence as a hydrogeomorphology event is currently occurring dangerously in many plains of the country due to uncontrolled groundwater extraction from water bearing layers, and accordingly monitoring and studying this phenomenon seems to be necessary. In this study, land subsidence rate of the Najafabad aquifer was determined through the Differential Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) processing of the ASAR and PALSAR radar data and the results were validated by comparying with the differential leveling and groundwater level drowdown data. Processing of the ASAR sensor data estimates the land subsidence in the Najafabad plain at an average annual subsidence rate of 6.7 cm and a total of 41 cm during 6 years period and processing of the PALSAR data suggests an annual rate of 7.7 cm and total subsidence of 30 cm during 4 years period. Most of the occured displacements are related to the Tiranchi, Koushk, Ghahderijan, Goldasht and Falavarjan cities. The simultaneous groundwater level data with acquisition date of the radar satellite images between 2002 and 2014 shows a drawdown ranging from 0.5 to 46.5 meters in the south and east to north of the Najafabad city consistent with the estimated land subsidence areas.The DInSAR processing of the PALSAR data has led to a more accurate results with higher spatial resolution. Results of the radar data processing can be employed for the hazard zonation directly utilized for management and planning of control and preventive measures.

The basis of land management is the geomorphological zoning of the land surface, which is determined based on the same geomorphological characteristics of the zoning. Ground zoning detect land features by basic surface features such as height, slope, and slope direction. In this study, quantitative zoning of the land surface with small coefficients to the surface has been used to identify suitable areas for artificial feeding in the mountainous region of Gohar and Dasht-e Gorbayegan in Fars province. Quantitative zoning of the land surface has been performed by Evans-Shri coefficients due to the accurate determination and separation of types, faces, and surface features of the land has an important role in determining the exact land use. In this research basic models included linear, circular, and divergent models. These basic models with the dimensions of the final windows are ranked second in the MATLAB software to the level the ground is fitted to determine the fit of these models, the parameter of total squared difference has been used. In addition, the suitability of the study area for flood distribution in five different classes was determined using fuzzy logic. The most suitable areas for feeding downstream of the cones had five parameters with a maximum score of 20. The inappropriate class related to the lower plains of alluvial fans have a minimum score of five input classes in fuzzy logic, which is equal to zero.

The different land uses in the irrigation water area of the eleven streams of Khansar city during 1969, 1995, 2014, and 2019 have been identified and their area has been determined by analysis of the aerial photos as well as the satellite images of QuickBird, and Landsat in the Google Earth Engine (GEE) environment. Then, the net and gross areas of land under irrigation water, area of non-agricultural land uses, location and area of agricultural land uses under irrigation of the streams are separated according to the type of agricultural activity (orchard or farmland) for each stream. Aerial photos of the study area dated 1969 are the basis for the assessment of agricultural conditions before the law of Fair Water Allocation. The results showed that non-agricultural and particularly urban and residential land uses have increased since 1969. In other words, land use of part of the agricultural lands has been changed to residential and urban land uses. Despite the decreasing trend of agricultural land uses in the last 50 years, these changes have not been the same between the farm and orchard land uses and the area under orchard plantation showed an increasing trend. These changes have dramatically influenced on water demand of the streams. Land use has not significantly changed from 2014 to 2019 and no noticeable change was observed in the area of the agricultural and green agricultural lands as well as the percentage of the orchard and farming lands during these years. The results of this study confirmed the significant changes in agricultural land use and consequently water consumption in the district of the eleven streams of Khansar in recent decades. This study also highlighted the high efficiency of the combined use of aerial photos, spectral satellite images with medium spatial resolution, and visible spectral satellite data with high spectral resolution, as well as using cloud system capabilities of the Google Earth Engine to study changes in agricultural land uses during last decades.

Evapotranspiration variations (ET₀) were investigated and analyzed using Minitab16 software for the 2010-2019 period using the Nizab system's data in Yazd province, and then ET₀ was predicted until 2027. Based on the results, the increase of ET₀ in cities of Yazd province was affected by the enhancement in wind speed and weather temperature, and the decrease in relative humidity from 2010 to 2019. To determine the appropriate model, Ardakan, Abarkooh, and Taft cities were selected as a representative in each climatic group, and ET₀ data for the years 2010 to 2015 were considered as the input data of the software and ET₀ data for the years from 2016 to 2019 were used to validate the determined model. The prediction of the determined models showed an increasing trend of ET₀ for cold seasons in Ardakan and Abarkoh by 2027. Also, the model prediction showed a decreasing trend of ET₀ for hot seasons in Taft by 2027. Also, the ET0 will not change significantly in cold seasons. In Abarkoh and Ardakan cities, autumn-spring crops such as wheat and in Taft city, spring-summer crops such as sunflower will be more affected by ET₀ variations.