JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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  Many studies have been carried out on pure minerals to study the effect of plant roots on minerals weathering, but information on mineral weathering that normally occurs in different soil fractions is limited. To investigate the effect of

German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) cultivation on mineral weathering of clay and silt fractions in five different soil series amended or not amended (control) with cattle manure, a factorial experiment was performed in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. At harvest time, rhizosphere soil was separated and mineralogical studies were performed through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and compared to before cultivation Results showed that in clay sized particles, trioctahedral chlorite transformed to di-octahedral chlorite while kaolinite disappeared. In silt sized particles, feldspar transformed to amphibole and vice versa The pots amended with manure showed the same changes for clay and silt sized particles as the pots without manure.

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Usually, dry soil readily absorbs water .However, not all soils display such characteristics. Some soils (hydrophobic soils) show resistance to wetting. Because of the importance of this subject and lack of research, we evaluated the effect of heating on water repellency and some of soil physical and chemical characteristics. So soil was combined with compost and heated at deferent temperatures, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 °C for 30 minutes in an oven or muffle furnace. The results showed that control treatment and heated soil at 300 °C had WDPT and MED 45 (s), 17% and 80 (s), 23% respectively. So, little water repellency was present prior to heating the soil. When soil was heated up to 300°C, intense water repellency resulted, but it was abruptly eliminated by increasing the heating. The soil texture was changed from loam to sandy loam at high temperatures (400 & 500 °C) and the sand percentage was increased. Organic matter decreased by increasing the temperature. Amount of pH decreased up to 200 °C and then increased at 500°C because of increasing ash in soils. Diminution of mineral and organic matter caused EC to decline in all the heated soils.

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  Prediction of sediment load transported by rivers is a crucial step in the management of rivers, reservoirs and hydraulic projects. In the present study, in order to predict the suspended sediment of Taleghan river by using artificial neural

network, and recognize the best ANN with the highest accuracy, 500 daily data series of flow discharge on the present day, flow discharge on the past day, flow depth and hydrograph condition (respectively with the average of 13.83 (m³/s), 15.42 (m³/s), 89.83 (cm) and -0.036) as input variables, and 500 daily data series of suspended sediment, as the output of the model were used. The data was related to the period of 1984-2005. 80 different neural networks were developed using different combinations of variables and also changing the number of hidden-layer neurons and threshold functions. The accuracy of the models was then compared by R² and RMSE. Results showed that the neural network with 3-9-1 structure and input parameters of flow discharge on the present day, flow discharge on the past day and flow depth was superior (R²= 0.97 and RMSE= 0.068) compared to the other structures. The average of the observed data of sediment and that predicted by the optimal model (related to test step) were 1122.802 and 1184.924 (tons per day), respectively.

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Phytoremediation models are important to understand the processes governing phytoremediation and the management of contaminated soils. Little effort has been made for evaluating the potential of the phytoremediation of metals based on the mathematical models. Therefore, the purpose of this study was modeling the phytoremediation of the nickel-contaminated soils. For this purpose, a model was recommended for estimating the rate of the phytoremediation of nickel from the soil by means of relative transpiration reduction and concentration of nickel in the plant functions. To evaluate the model, soil was contaminated with different levels of nickel by nickel nitrate. Then, the pots were filled with contaminated soil and Basil (ocimum tenuiflirum L.) seeds were planted. To avoid the dry tension, the pots were weighed and irrigated to the point of field capacity (FC) at short time intervals (48 hours). The plants were harvested in four times. At each harvesting stage, the relative transpiration values and nickel concentration in the soil and plant samples were measured. The performance of the model was evaluated by statistical methods such as Maximum Error, Root Mean Square Error, Coefficient of Determination, Efficiency of Model and Coefficient of Residual Mass. Results demonstrated that in the case of nickel contamination in soil, changes in the relative transpiration of Basil can be measured by the two proposed models and the linear model (R2=0.94) has a better performance compared to the nonlinear one (R2=0.84). Also the model obtained from the combination of linear function and nickel's concentration in soil has a relatively good (R=0.7) fit with the measured values of the remediation rate of nickel in soil.

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Phytoremediation is one of the best methods for cleaning heavy metal contaminated soils. In this method, tolerant plants with high absorption potential are used to clean up the pollutant. The purpose of this greenhouse study was to find the most suitable plants with the highest Zn translocation factor and shoot concentration. Soil samples were collected from zinc and lead Bama mine in Isfahan province, Iran. To compare the hytoextraction power, Heliantus annus.L., Thlaspi caerulescens, Trifolium pretense L. and Amaranthus retroflexus were planted in 8 kilogeram pots. The experiment was conducted in completely randomized design with three replications. After seventy days, plants root and shoot were harvested and Zn concentration was measured. The result showed that Thlaspi caerulescens had significantly higher root and shoot Zn concentration (3125 and 4041 mg kg-1, respectively). The highest bioaccumulation factor and translocation factor was observed in Thlaspi caerulescens. Based on this research, Thlaspi caerulescens was one of the suitable Zn hyper accumulators for cleaning up the Zn pollution.

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While the mass density current penetrates the stagnant fluid, a plunge point occurs. In this regard, the boundary of the dense fluid with ambient fluid is determined at the plunge point height. In this research, the hydraulic parameters of the dense flow and the bed slope of the stagnant fluid which have a significant effect on the plunge point have been investigated under the two turbulence models: the k- and the RNG at the Flow-3D model. To achieve the purpose of this research, a physical model was set up at the hydraulics laboratory of Shahid Chamran University (SCU), Ahwaz, Iran. Then, using the Flow-3D model with both the k- and the RNG turbulence model, the height of the plunge point was simulated according to the same experimental condition. Findings showed that the predicted depth under the RNG model is closer to the results of the physical model. For example, the k- and RNG model for the 12% slope can estimate the plunge point depth by 30% and 12.28% respectively more than the experimental data. However, for all the slopes, the k-e model can on average overestimate by 27% and RNG model 10.5% more than the results of experimental data. The statistical analysis showed that the RNG model predicts the plunge point depths with a satisfactory precision.

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Determine appropriate locations with accuracy and speed required is for Floodwater spreading very important. The main objective of this research, preparation, use and evaluation decision support systems is based on GIS and RS techniques to identify and prioritization appropriate areas Floodwater spreading in the study area. In this study area suitable for flood water spreading were selected based on major criteria four, sub criteria eight and index twentyfour. Finally five scenario will be provide and assessment (a scenario based on the relative values for the criteria four, and different scenarios four based on the obvious one of the main criteria). Comparison desirability average among the scenarios five indicate that it is Sub watershed (1) In the scenario third (infilteration preferred, water application preference and equality of all the main criteria) had a higher average desirability therefore between Sub watershed 2 in this scenario is preferred more than the other Sub. Of between the two sub watershed ivar region considering that the desirability average, sub watershed (1) and implemented of between scenarios, scenario (1) (infilteration major criteria preferred) were selected as first priority. Second priority for Floodwater spreading site selection is belong to sub watershed 2, and with scenario (1).

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Phytoremediation is one of the cleanup methods of polluted soil that is possible accumulation of heavy metals in plant tissues, exclusion of these elements from contaminated soil. Therefore, to achievement the objective, this research was done in pot culture using completely randomized design at the University of Birjand in 2011. Two species Spinacia oleracea and Lepidium sativum were used to remove or reduce the concentration of Cadmium (Cd) and Chromium (Cr). In this study, different levels of Cadmium (CdCl2) concentrations including 5, 50, 100 mg kg-1 and also chromium (CrCl3) concentrations 50, 100, 150 mg kg-1 were used respectively and control as well for each species with three replications. Results indicated that the Cd and Cr concentration in shoot of Spinacia oleracea and Lepidium sativum significantly affected by their concentration in soil (p<0/01). Results revealed that increasing of Cd and Cr concentrations in soil, showed an increase concentration of both metal in shoot of Spinacia oleracea. increasing of Cd concentrations in soil, showed an increase concentration of it in shoot of Lepidium sativum but the concentration of Cr was less. Also, comparison of cadmium and chromium concentrations in shoot of Spinacia oleracea and Lepidium sativum showed that two species showed same behavior of Cd and different behavior Cr concentration. So the analysis of data showed that both of species are appropriate for absorption of Cd and Cr and phytoremediation technology as well. It can be concluded that in high soil Cr concentration for phytoremediation Lepidium sativum is not appropriate.

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Topography and land use are among the most important factors affecting the soil formation. Chemical forms of Fe and magnetic susceptibility (&chi;) are widely used for the evaluation of soil development. This study was conducted in order to determine the effect of these factors on &chi;. A toposequence was selected in Madvan Plain, Northern Yasouj. Nine soil profiles (paddy and dryland soils) were dug and sampled from diagnostic horizons. Magnetic susceptibility was measured by Bartington Dual Frequency, MS2 Meter at frequencies of 0.46 and 4.6 KHz. Results indicated that less amounts of &chi;, frequency dependence of &chi; (&chi;fd%) and CBD extractable Fe (Fed) (3.1, 2.6 and 2.7 times, respectively), and more quantities of oxalate extractable Fe (Feo) and Feo/Fed ratio (5 and 7.2 times, respectively) were measured in paddy soils. The highest value of &chi; was observed in pedons located on plateau and piedmont plains, and the lowest belonged to those located on river terraces with aquic conditions. Compared to paddy soils, &chi; enhancement at soil surface was greater (17%) in dryland soils. A positive correlation existed between &chi; and some soil characteristics such as Fed, clay content and &chi;fd%.

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Dust deposition occurs extensively in arid and semiarid regions of the world. Since dust particles are fine-sized, they have a high adsorption capacity and also high contamination potential. The objective of this study was to evaluate the temporal and spatial distribution of the rate of atmospheric dust deposition in different locations in Kerman urban area. Dust samples were collected monthly using glass traps installed on the roof of 35 one-story buildings in Kerman for 7 months from April 20 to Nov. 20, 2012 (a total of 245 samples). After each monthly sampling, traps were washed and dust samples transferred to the laboratory and weighed. The mean dust deposition rate of 7 months was mapped using the inverse distance weighting (IDW) approach. The wind rose of Kerman was drawn by WRPLOT 7.0.0. The results showed that the average rate of dust deposition decreased during the 7 months studied from 17.4 to 5 g/m2. month, which could be attributed to the decrease in wind velocity. The spatial distribution of the samples also showed that the dust deposition rate varied from 4.84 in the southern parts to 14.84 g/m2.month, mostly in the northern locations of the city. The wind rose based on the average wind speed of the 7 months of sampling indicated the prevailing wind blows from north, northeast and northwest and the dust spatial distribution well follows the wind direction. In general, the rate of dust deposition in Kerman city is high and therefore, the source of dust has to be well detected and proper management practices are necessary.

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Few investigations have been carried out on the ability of different plants to take up non-exchangeable potassium (K). The objective of this investigation was to examine the ability of different alfalfa cultivars to absorb K from phlogopite. An experiment was carried out with a completely randomized design with 3 alfalfa cultivars including Pickseed 2065 (MF), Rehnani (R) and Hamadani (H) grown in a quartz sand medium containing <53 micron sized phlogopite under complete and K-free nutrient solutions for a period of 6 months. During the growth period, the shoot was harvested 4 times. At the end of the experiment, the root was also separated from the growth medium and collected. Plant samples were extracted using the dry ash method and their K concentration was determined. Under the K-free nutrient solution, the highest shoot and root K concentration and uptake were found for the MF cultivar. The shoot and root K concentration in this cultivar were respectively 1.6 and 1.5 times higher than those in the R cultivar and 1.8 times greater than those in the H cultivar. The K uptake in the shoot and root of the MF cultivar was respectively 1.6 and 1.9 times higher than that of the H cultivar and 1.6 and 1.5 times higher than that of the R cultivar. Thus, in addition to other parameters, the type of plant variety should be taken into account when K requirement is evaluated.

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Terraces are old geomorphic surfaces that are not related to present streams and are best places to study the effect of time on soil formation (chronosequence). This research was carried out to study some physico-chemical parameters especially different forms of iron as soil development indices on terraces of Karaj River in Hassan-Abad, southern Tehran. To determine soil development indices in 4 profiles occurring on 4 terraces, some physical and chemical properties were measured and free iron(Fed), aluminum(Ald), silica(Sid) and manganese(Mnd), amorphous Fe(Feo), Al(Alo), Si(Sio), Mn(Mno) and Fe, Al, Si-humus complexes were extracted. Results showed that clay, fine clay/total clay, CEC, the color redness and leaching of calcium carbonate increase toward higher terraces. Contents of Fed, Ald and Sid increases from lower terrace (T1) to the higher terrace (T4). Fed-Feo and Feo/Fed as the most important indices of soil development were enhanced and reduced from lower terrace (T1) to higher terrace (T4) soils, respectively, which indicate an increase in iron oxides crystalinity and soil profile development. Contents of Fed-Feo in the B horizons from T1 to T4 were 600, 800, 1000, and 1400 mg/kg soil, respectively. Calculation of Ferrihydrate and Fe-hydr(oxide) such as goethite and hematite showed that the amounts of these components were increased from T1 to T4 terraces confirming the variation of (Fed-Feo), (Feo/Fed) and (Feo-Fep) indices.

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Cadmium is a trace element which is harmful to life and is considered as a dangerous pollutant. This element leads to pollution and reduction of water quality and sometimes even to toxicity through contaminated sources such as wastewater (municipal and industrial). Due to the growing population's need for more water resources and increased water resource pollution, a need for new and inexpensive methods for remediation and improving water quality is felt. Phytoremediation with aquatic macrophytes is an effective and inexpensive method for improving water quality and wastewater. In this study, biological removal of cadmium from simulated wastewater was reviewed within 11 days of cultivation of Lemna gibba in Hoagland nutrient solution, at four different concentrations of cadmium (0, 1, 2, 4, and 6 mg L-1). Maximum Bioconcentration Factor and maximum Uptake Index were calculated from 6 mg L-1 metal concentration. Maximum (4.71 g/day) and minimum (2 g/day) Biomass production measurement was obtained from 0 mg L-1 and 6 mg L-1 of pollutant concentration. The plant used in this study was able to accumulated cadmium with the efficiency of up to 91%. However, the pollutant remediation was not completed in a short time. Thus, pollutants' bioremediation from wastewater solutions by Lemna gibba, a native hydrophyte of southern Iran’s pounds, is efficient and appropriate.

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Achievement to sustainable development is dependent upon integrated watershed management. In other hand without detailed analysis of the rainfall - runoff observations, high risk of flood predictions will be translated into flood-induced capital losses. Considering the fact that not always hydrometric data are available, using synthetic unit hydrograph is one of the most popular methods of flood simulations for ungauged watersheds. This method has operational limitation for duration of runoff but in Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph (IUH) assumed to all take place at a discrete point in time therefore can be converted into and desired durations.According to literature few studies have been focused on Laplace transforms, H2U-Nash Unit Hydrograph in Iran, this work is an attempt to investigate model performance in Jooneghan catchment, located in northern part of Karoon great basin.Laplace synthetic hydrograph was derived base on effective rainfall while H2U-Nash model was simulated using moments technique and lag time.The mean absolute relative error of Laplace transforms, H2U-Nash was 0.42 and 0.25 respectively. Visual interpretation and statistical comparison of Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient of the models confirms that H2U-Nash model performs better than Laplace transforms model.

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Evaluation of chemical and biological indicators of soil in different land uses could be helpful in sustainable range management, preventing degradation of soil quality trend. This study was conducted in Friedan in Isfahan province in 2010 to compare chemical and biological indicators in three land uses (rangeland, degraded dry land and dry land), during two growing seasons (May and September) in three slopes (0-10, 10-20, 20-30 %). Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, organic matter, cation exchange capacity and microbial soil respiration were measured. Results showed that all measured characteristics except potassium decreased over an increase in the slope. Maximum values of phosphorus, organic matters, cation exchange capacity and soil respiration were obtained in pasture (28.4 mg/kg, 0.62%, 20.38 cmol/kg, 33.2 mgC/day, respectively)but potassium maximum rate was seen in dry land form (406.8 mg/kg).The effect of season on all measured parameters was significant except for N, while the highest amounts of phosphorus, potassium, cation exchange capacity and soil respiration (28.7 mg/kg, 377.3 mg/kg, 19.6 cmol/kg and 25.9 mgC/day, respectively) were seen in May and the highest organic matter rate (0.68%)in September. The results of this study showed that an increase in the slope, poor range management, and the end of the growing season could be major factors degrading the soil quality indices and soil productivity.

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Zinc deficiency is the most widespread micronutrient disorder in the production of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and other cereal crops. An experiment was conducted in greenhouse, in 2013, using the sterile sand-perlite (2:1 v/v), to study the effects of two beneficial microorganisms on growth and nutritional status of wheat (Nicknejad cultivar). The study was arranged as factorial in a completely randomized design with three replications. The experimental factors consisted of Piriformospora indica (E0: Uninoculated E1: Inoculated), Pseudomonas putida (E0: Uninoculated E1: Inoculated) and Zinc (Zn0: 0 Zn1: 2µM ZnSO4 ). The results showed that inoculation by P. putida increased shoot dry weight at both levels of zinc, but this increase was observed for root dry weight only without zinc application. The iron concentration of shoot was decreased as a result of inoculation by P. putida at both levels of zinc. However, P. indica inoculation increased iron concentration in zinc application, but had no significant effect without zinc application. At both levels of zinc, the highest P, Zn, chlorophyll a and b concentrations were achieved by inoculation with P. indica. Inoculation by P. putida reduced P concentration at both levels of zinc but it reduced Zn, chlorophyll a and b concentrations only with zinc application. The results of this research showed that despite negative effect of P. putida on nutrient uptake, inoculation by P. putida and/or P. indica plays an important role in the promotion of wheat growth in zinc deficiency conditions.

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The ability of different soil tests in predicting soil phosphorus (P) is important in soils amended with municipal sewage sludge. The objective of the present study was to evaluate several chemical extractants to estimate available P for bean growing in 10 calcareous soils amended with municipal sewage sludge from Chaharmahal-Va-Bakhtiari province under the greenhouse conditions. For this purpose, the soil samples were incubated with sludge at a rate of 39-ton sludge ha–1. The amount of available P of the soil samples was determined by Olsen, Colwell, ammonium bicarbonate-DTPA, 0.01 M calcium chloride, BrayІ, ІІ, Mehlich І and ІІ methods. A pot experiment in a completely randomized design was conducted to evaluate the bean plant indices. The results showed that the amount of extractable P with the above methods decreased in the following order: Colwell> Bray ІІ> Mehlich ІІ> Olsen> Ammonium bicarbonate DTPA> Mehlich І> Bray І> 0.01M chloride calcium. The extractable P with 0.01M chloride calcium, Mehlich І, ІІ Colwell and Olsen methods correlated significantly with plant indices (P concentration and P uptake). Thus, mentioned methods could be used to estimate plant-available P in the soils amended with sewage sludge.

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One of the major problems associated with petroleum-contaminated soils is water repellency, especially in arid regions of the world. Hence, a variety of methods such as clay addition has been proposed to improve the hydrophobicity of soils. This research was conducted to evaluate the influence of zeolite application on water repellency of an oil-contaminated soil from Khuzestan Province under various treatments including initial soil moisture content (0, 10, 20, and 30 weight %), the amount of applied zeolite (2, 4 and 8 weight %), size (25-53 and <2 μm), and exchangeable cation (Sodium and Calcium). The hydrophobicity of soil sample was determined using Water Drop Penetration Time (WDPT) method. The results showed that by increasing the amount of applied mineral WDPT decreased, where the application of 2 percent of zeolite led to the reduction of WDPT by about 27 percent less than the control. The results also indicated that soils treated with sodium-saturated zeolite had less WDPT than the calcium-treated samples, where the average of WDPT in sodium and calcium treatments decreased by 23% and 5% compared with the control, respectively. The initial moisture content of 30 percent showed the best performance with the decreasing WDPT of about 67 percent. Furthermore, the effect of mineral particle sizes showed a meaningless reduction in WDPT.

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Sediment yield of watersheds results from different erosional and hydrological processes which make it too complicated to be predicted. Awareness of runoff and sediment yield regimes is useful to better understand the erosional condition of watersheds for management. Therefore, determination of factors controlling hydro-sedimentary response of watersheds is very necessary. For this purpose, ground surveying and measurements of hydrograph and sediment graph were carried out in the representative basin of Khamsan in the uplands of Gavshan dam during 9 months. Finally, relationships between runoff and sediment yield were obtained, then corresponding runoff-sediment events were analyzed. Results showed that 5 events out of 6 occurring runoff events had eight-shaped hysteresis loop and only one event showed clock-wise hysteresis loop. Among them, the highest and lowest flood discharges were attributed to the events of 02.11.2010 and 05.01.2011 with 151488 M3 and 11764.8 M3 Run off, respectively. The study also showed that for this watershed no specific type of loop existed for a particular season. Accordingly, the seasonal patterns could not be attributed to a particular type of loop. Precipitation and runoff characteristics may have also played a role in addition to other factors. Results emphasize the importance of rainfall distribution and rising-falling limbs of hydrograph for the corresponding hysteresis loops in small watersheds.

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Spatial and temporal distribution of dust deposition rate (DDR) in Isfahan city and the influencing climatic parameters were studied. Dust samples were collected using glass trays placed on the roof of one-story buildings from 20 sites in Isfahan city for 12 months. Climatic data were obtained from Meteorological Organization and analyzed. The highest and the lowest amount of DDR in agreement with the direction of prevailing wind were observed for dry months with eastern and northeastern wind directions and wet periods with western and southwestern wind directions, respectively. This can indicate dust emission from the desert located in eastern part of Isfahan city. Statistically significant inverse correlation between DDR and precipitation and relative humidity, and significant and positive correlation of DDR with Min and Max temperatures in all the studied months and also with Max and average wind speed for dry sampling months may well justify the temporal distribution of DDR in the city. In dry months, finer particles from eastern desert can be transported a longer distance and deposited in the western part of the city, far from the source area. In wet seasons, however, soil aggregates become coarser as a result of particle adhesion. This, in turn, results in the deposition of dust near the source area as the transporting power of dust reduces.