JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

The purpose of this study was to model biomass with soil parameters in Hir-Neur rangelands of Ardabil Province. Initially, considering the vegetation types and different classes of environmental factors, at the maximum vegetative growth stage, using one square meter plot, biomass was estimated by clipping and weighing method. For each transect, a soil sample was taken and transferred to the soil laboratory and the various parameters were measured by conventional methods. The relationship between soil factors and the rangeland biomass was analyzed and simulated using linear multiple regression. Among the measured soil factors, the Silt, EC, Ca, K_soluble, OC, POC, pH, Mg, TNV, clay, P, and volumetric moisture had the highest effect and percentage of biomass forecast (p<0.01). The accuracy of the simulated maps was analyzed using RMSE criteria and for grasses, forbs, shrubs, and total biomass were equal to 0.81, 0.65, 0.34, and 0.46, respectively. The results of this study, not only point out the importance of soil factors on the biomass but also as a baseline data for managing rangelands, supply-demand, and carbon balance can be used in the current section.

Iron (Fe) is an essential micronutrient for plants and its deficiency occurs in calcareous soils. However, a suitable extractant for the estimation of plant-available Fe and its critical level in calcareous soils depends on the type of soil and plant. The objective of the present study was to evaluate several chemical extractants to estimate available Fe and its critical level for corn growing in calcareous soils from Chaharmahal-Va-Bakhtiari Province. The amount of available Fe was measured by DTPA-TEA, AB-DTPA, 0.01 M calcium chloride, Mehlich IІ, and Mehlich ІІI extractants. At the end of the experiment, corn was harvested, and dry weight, Fe concentration in the plant, and the amount of Fe uptake by corn were determined. Extracted Fe had a significant correlation with all extractants used with maize indices. . The highest correlation coefficients were determined between the DTPA-TEA (0.32-0.94) and AB-DTPA (0.43–0.96) methods and the plant indices. The results of this research showed that the DTPA-TEA and AB-DTPA methods were the most suitable extractants for predicting available Fe content in these soils and the critical level of Fe extracted by these extractants was 2.81 and 3.67 mg kg^-1.

To investigate and evaluate the effects of different levels of drip irrigation on grain yield and yield components, oil yield, seed oil percentage, and seed water use efficiency, an experiment was performed at Behbahan Agricultural Research Station during two crop years 2018-19 and 2019-20. The experiment was conducted in split plots based on a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. The amount of water in tape drip irrigation was compared at four levels of 40, 60, 80, and 100% water requirement in main plots and two sesame cultivars Local of Behbahan and Shevin in subplots from the beginning of flowering. Comparison of mean interaction effects of irrigation levels and cultivars showed that the treatment of 100% water requirement in the Behbahan local cultivar with the yield of 1218.0 kg/ha was ranked first and foremost. Water consumption in the highest treatment (100% water requirement and Behbahan local cultivar) was calculated to be 5389.4 m³/ha. Treatments of 100% and 80% of water requirement in superior cultivar (local Behbahan) with water use efficiency of 0.226 and 0.210 kg/m³ had no significant difference, respectively, and were in the first place. Pearson correlation coefficient calculated for the measured traits showed that the highest correlation of water volume was calculated (r = 0.9271) with the weight of one thousand seeds. Significant correlations of water volume with grain yield and yield components indicated that sesame was susceptible to drought stress and attention to optimal water management in sesame cultivation. Therefore, decreasing the volume of water consumed and consequently drought stress in sesame reduced yield and yield components.

The FAO Penman-Monteith is a baseline method to estimate reference evapotranspiration. In many cases, it is difficult to access all data, so replacing simpler models with ‎lower input data and appropriate accuracy is necessary. ‎ The purpose of this study is to investigate the capability of the experimental ‎models, gene expression programming, stepwise regression, and Bayesian network in estimating ‎reference evapotranspiration.‎ In this research, daily information of the Boroujerd synoptic station in the period of 1996 -2017 was used as model inputs. ‎Based on the correlation between input and output parameters, six input patterns were ‎determined for modeling. The results showed that the Kimberly-Penman model has the ‎best performance among the experimental models.‎ Gene expression programming with fourth pattern ‎‎and Default Model Operators (R² = 0.98 and RMSE = 0.9), Bayesian Network with sixth pattern (R²=0.91 and RMSE = 1.01), and stepwise regression with sixth pattern have the most accurate patterns at R² = 0.91 and RMSE = 0.9 in the ‎training stage.‎ Comparison of the performance of the three models showed that the gene expression ‎programming model was superior to the other two models with the Average Absolute Relative Error (AARE) of 0.12 and the Mean Ratio (MR) of 0.94.‎ The results showed that gene expression programming had an acceptable ability to estimate ‎reference evapotranspiration under the weather conditions of Boroujerd and could be introduced as a ‎suitable model.‎

In this study, spatial-temporal variation of dust deposition rate in the western and eastern half of Tehran and its climatic parameters affecting were studied. At 34 points in the city, dust samples were collected by glass traps from the roof, for twelve months, and the climatic data were obtained and analyzed from relevant organizations. The highest deposition rate is in the western half of the city and its total amount has varied from 54.52 to 121.21 g/m²/y. In both halves of the city, summer has the highest dust deposition rate and its central areas have the highest amount. There were significant positive correlations between dust deposition rate with temperature and medium wind speed, and there were significant negative correlations between dust deposition rate with rainfall and relative humidity in all months, which justifies the high dust deposition rate in the dry seasons of the year. The results of stepwise regression showed that rainfall was the most important factor affecting the dust deposition rate in both halves of the city. The city of Tehran has a special geographical location the presence of mountains like a barrier has prevented dust from leaving the city and the air inlet corridor of Tehran has faced problems due to the expansion of building construction and high-rise building. Other factors affecting the rate of dust deposition in this city, in addition to the distance from the main source of dust production, atmospheric parameters can be mentioned the existence of barren lands around the city, vegetation cover, construction operations, and traffic.

The simulation of the rainfall-runoff process in the watershed has particular importance for a better understanding of hydrologic issues, water resources management, river engineering, flood control structures, and flood storage. In this study, to simulate the rainfall-runoff process, rainfall and discharge data were used in the period 1997-2017. After data qualitative control, rainfall, and discharge delays were determined using the coefficients of autocorrelation, partial autocorrelation, and cross-correlation in R Studio software. Then, the effective parameters and the optimum combination were determined by the Gamma test method and used to implement the model under three different scenarios in MATLAB software. Gamma test results showed that today's precipitation parameters, precipitation of the previous day, discharge of the previous day, and discharge of two days ago have the greatest effect on the outflow of the basin. Also, the P_t Q_t-1 and P_t P_t-1 Q_t-1 Q_t-2 Q_t-3 combinations were selected as the most suitable input combinations for modeling. The results of the modeling showed that in the support vector machine model, the Radial Base kernel Function (RBF) has a better performance than multiple and linear kernels. Also, the performance of the Artificial Neural Network model (ANN) is better than the Support Vector Machine model (SVM) with Radial Base kernel Function (RBF).

Delineation of gully erosion susceptible areas by using statistical models, as well as optimum usage of existing data and information with the least time and cost and more precision, is important. The main objective of this study is to determine the areas accuracy to gully erosion and susceptibility mapping by using data mining of the bivariate Dempster-Shafer, linear multivariate statistical methods and their integration in Semirom watershed, southern Isfahan province. First, the geographical location of a total of 156 randomly gullies were mapped using preliminary reports, satellite imagery interpretation and field survey. In the next step, 14 conditioning parameters of the gullies in the study area were selected including the topographic, geomorphometric, environmental, and hydrologic parameters using the regional environmental characteristics and the multicollinearity test for modeling. Then, the Dempster-Shafer statistical, linear regression, and ensembled methods were developed using 70% of the identified gullies and 14 effective parameters as dependent and independent variables, respectively. The remaining 30% of the gully distribution dataset were used for validation. The results of the multivariate regression model showed that land use, slope and distance to drainage network parameters have the most significant relation to gully occurrence. The gully erosion susceptibility maps were prepared by individual and ensemble methods and they were divided to 5 classes of very low to very high rate. The area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to validate gully erosion susceptibly maps. The verification results showed that the AUC of ensemble method (0.948) is higher than Dempster-Shafer (0.924) and Multivariate regression (0.864) methods. Also, the the seed core area index (SCAI) value of the ensembled model from very low to very high susceptible classes have a decreasing trend that indicating a proper separation of susceptible classes by this model.

The combination of a labyrinth weir with an orifice is a proper solution for floating material to pass over the weir and transfer sediment through the orifice. Additionally, creating a slot in the overflow wing leads to higher discharge. This study examined four discharges (5, 10, 15, and 20 liters per second) with channel width and height of 30 and 40 cm in trapezoidal-orifice, square-orifice, and triangular-orifice labyrinth weirs in the laboratory and using Flow3D with RNG k-epsilon (k-ε) turbulence model, the results were compared with one another. Comparing the discharge flow over weirs and measuring the discharge coefficient among the mentioned models showed that the triangular-orifice labyrinth weir had the highest discharge rate. Moreover, the increased Ht/P ratio (Ht represents total hydraulic head; P denotes weir height) for all models resulted in the increased discharge coefficient. Due to the efficiency of this type of weirs, the highest discharge coefficient was obtained at low Ht/P ratios. At lower ratios, since there was free flow, the coefficient of weir discharge increased, and as the ratio increased, the weir was partially submerged. Furthermore, for the weir design, the best Ht/P ratio was between 0.13 to 0.41, and the maximum discharge coefficient (Cd = 1.2) was within this range.

In this study, the hydraulic characteristics of the flap gates are installed at the end of the trapezoidal channels were investigated by laboratory study. In the physical model, three trapezoidal channels and four gates with different weights were used (12 gates for three channels). Based on several experiments, equations for estimating of flow rate for each side slope (each channel) were developed using dimensional analysis. In this research, five forms of discharge-stage relationship were used to obtain relationships for each side slop to estimate flow rate, separately. The results show that none of the discharge-stage relationships forms as a single relationship for all flap gates in a certain channel are suitable for estimating discharge. But the first, second, and third forms of the discharge-stage relationship are very suitable for estimating the flow rate in a certain channel for a certain flap gate. In other words, for each gate with a specific weight, a separate (unique) relationship is obtained to estimate the flow rate in the form of the first to the third discharge-stage relationship in a certain channel. To estimate of flow rate by using the first form of the discharge-stage relationship, the maximum values of statistical parameters of RMSE, ME, and MARE, among all three channels, are 0.0001 m³/s, 0.00022 m³/s, and 0.22 percent, respectively. The values of all the above statistical parameters for the first, second, and third forms of the discharge-stage relationship are presented in the article.

Soil classification in a standard system is usually defined based on information obtained from properties and their variations in different map units. The aim of this study was to compare soil genesis and morphological characteristics in different landforms with WRB and Soil Taxonomy (ST) Systems. From nine studied profiles, six profiles were selected as representative profiles and dug in Colluvial fans, Piedmont plain, and Alluvial plain physiographic units, respectively. Then, the soils were classified according to the pattern of the two systems. Also, variation analysis of variance (ANOVA) and comparing means were used to quantify interested soil properties. The results of soil physio-chemical properties at different landform positions were significant based on analysis of variance of the effect of physiographic units and soil depth at the level of 1 %. Soil classification results based on WRB indicated that WRB were recognized four reference soil groups (RSG) included Regosols, Cambisols, Calcisols, and Gleysols at the first level of WRB classification in comparison of ST with recognizing two order Entisols and Inceptisols could separate more soils. The soils were located on the alluvial plain with a high groundwater level in the WRB due to the creation of restrictive conditions for root development in contrast to the ST called “Aquepts” in the suborder level but in a WRB is classified as the “Gleysols” RSG. On the other hand, ST, unlike WRB, used the Shallow criteria at the family level to describe the shallowness of soils and the limitations of root development. Generally, the efficiency of each system varies despite the differences in their structure and depending on the purpose of using them.

One of the crucial problems that exist in the irrigation networks is the fluctuation of the water surface flow in the main channel and changes in the flow rate of the intake structure. One of the effective methods to decrease these fluctuations is increasing the weir crest length at the given width of the channel with the use of the labyrinth weirs can be achieved for this purpose. The labyrinth weir is the same linear weir that is seen as broken in the plan view. In this study, a labyrinth weir with a length of 3.72 m, three different heights of 15, 17, and 20 cm, three different shapes of dentate (rectangular, triangular, and trapezoidal), and a linear weir were used in a recirculating flume with 15 m length and 1 m width. The result showed that for a given length and height of weir, with the increasing of the upstream water head to the weir height ratio (), the discharge coefficient decreases. The results showed that by increasing weir height, the discharge coefficient decreases for a given length of the weir. Linear weir and labyrinth weir without dentate create more water depth at the upstream by 3.3 and 1.2 fold compared with dentate labyrinth weir.

The effective use of rainwater is a key issue in agricultural development in arid and semi-arid regions. The tillage system as an important soil management measure can affect the rainwater retention, soil moisture content, and in consequence crop yield in rainfed lands. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of slope gradient and tillage direction on rainwater use efficiency (RWUE) in rainfed lands in Zanjan Province. The field experiment was performed in five slope gradients (12.6, 15.3, 17, 19.4, and 22%) and two tillage directions (along slope and on contour tillage) at two replications. Mass soil water content was determined at 5-day intervals and runoff was measured after rainfalls. Wheat grain yield was determined for each plot and RWUE was computed using the proportion of wheat grain yield and precipitation. Base on the results, runoff, soil moisture, wheat grain yield, and RWUE were affected by tillage directions, so that runoff in contour line tillage decreased about 6.4 times compared to along slope tillage and in consequence increased soil moisture, wheat grain yield, and RWUE about 8.7, 24.8, and 24.8%, respectively. Increasing runoff production in contour line tillage at steeper slopes was associated with a lower capacity of cultivated furrows that strongly declined soil water retention and negatively affected wheat grain yield and RWUE in the lands. This study revealed that the efficiency of the contour tillage in water retention and RWUE decreases in steeper slopes in rainfed lands.

Investigating and understanding river change issues is one of the important factors in sediment hydraulic sciences and river engineering. These studies can be done with the help of physical, mathematical models, or both, but due to financial and time constraints, mathematical models are more general and often used. In this study, the GSTARS model was used to investigate erosion and sedimentation and select the most appropriate function in 12.5 km in length from the Talar river in Mazandaran Province. Simulation using the 55 sections taken in 2006, the daily flow data of the hydrometric station of the Shirgah, located at the beginning of the rich and characteristics of the river sediment, was done. The calibration and validation of the model with cross sections taken in 2012 showed that Yang's sediment transport equation has the highest correlation with reality and can be used to predict river change. The amount of sediment depleted from the case study using the Yang equation is estimated at 8590 tons per year. Also, the study of longitudinal profiles of the river with different sediment transfer functions showed that the study reach at the end range has an erosion trend and is not capable of sand and gravel mining.

Snow cover is one of the important climatic elements based on which climate change may have a special effect. In general, climate change may be reflected in different climatic elements. Therefore, it is very important to study and measure changes in snow level as one of the important sources of water supply. Ardebil and Sarein cities are located at 48° 18׳ east longitude and 38° 15׳ north latitude. In this study, Sentinel-2 optical satellite was used to monitor the snow cover surface in 2018, and NDVI, S3, NWDI, NDSI, Cloud mask indices were applied to detect snow-covered surfaces using ArcGIS and Snap software. Next, to validate the snow maps extracted from the images, it was compared with the snow data in terrestrial stations using linear regression in MATLAB software and to evaluate the accuracy of the model statistical indices including RMSE, MSE, BIAS, CORR were used. The present study showed that according to Ardabil city climatic conditions, maximum-snow covered area in January with an area of 356.52 km2 and minimum snow-covered area in March with an area of 96.10 km2. The highest snow cover is observed in the high slope areas in the western slopes (Sabalan Mountain Heights) and the lowest snow cover is observed in the lower eastern slopes. The results of linear regression with generalization coefficient are 85% and the results of statistical indices of error are equal to MSE: 0.086, BASAS: 0.165, CORR: 0.924, and RMSE: 0.03. Correlation relationships between terrestrial data and estimated snow maps showed a high degree of correlation. This result is statistically significant at the 99% level. The use of optical images in estimating snow levels is very cost-effective due to the size of the areas and the high cost of installing snowmobiles. The results obtained in the present study indicated that traditional radar images with high spatial resolution and good correlation with terrestrial data can be a good alternative to snowmobiling ground stations at high altitudes or in passable areas.

In the present study, CanESM2 climate change model and stormwater management model (SWMM) were employed to investigate the climate change effects on the quantity and quality of urban runoff in a part of Karaj watershed, Alborz Province. The base period (1985-2005) and future period (2020-2040) are considered for this purpose. Based on the existing main and lateral drainage system and to be more accurate, the watershed was divided into 37 sub-watersheds by ArcGIS software. To simulate rainfall-runoff, the intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curve has been prepared for a 2-hour duration and 10-year return period, for the base period and RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 climate change scenarios based on the obtained precipitation data from Karaj synoptic station. Results showed that mean 24-hour precipitation values in RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios will increase by 21% and 11%, respectively, and maximum 24-hour precipitation values will decrease by 17% and 23%, respectively, as compared to the observed values in the base period. Also, based on the results of quantitative and qualitative runoff modeling in the study watershed, and according to the outflow hydrograph in the RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios, the outlet runoff discharge will decrease by 5.8% and 7.1%, respectively. Also, the flooded areas in the watershed will decrease by 13% and 15.28%, respectively. The concentration of pollutants in the RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios, compared to the base period, including total suspended solids (TSS), will increase by 7.48% and 9.24%, total nitrogen (TN) will increase by 6.93% and 8.48%, and lead (Pb) will increase by 7.32% and 8.91%, respectively.

Soil loss can cause many intra-regional and extra-regional problems, on the other hand, the effect of soil moisture on processes of soil loss and sediment yield for the identification and simulation of soil hydrological response is necessary. Therefore, the application of soil conditioners is essential for soil and water conservation. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of soil conditioners of vermicompost and nano-manure on variables of soil loss and sediment concentration at moistures of air-dried, 15 and 30%, and rainfall intensities of 50 and 90 mm h^-1. The obtained results in addition to confirmation of the significant effect of each conservation treatment at the level of 99 percent on the intended components showed that the conservation treatment of vermicompost compared to nano-manure treatment had more effect on measured variables. Also, the conservation treatment of vermicompost could decrease the soil loss at soil moisture air-dried, 15, and 30 percent with rates of 72.15, 66.63, and 78.76 percent (50 mm h^-1), respectively, and 45.01, 35.57, and 10.45 percent (of 90 mm h^-1), respectively. The effect of conservation treatments, soil moistures, and rainfall intensity and the interaction effects of conservation treatments × rainfall intensity and rainfall intensity × soil moisture on changes of soil loss and sediment concentration were significant at the level of 99 percent. The application of vermicompost and nano-manure had acceptable results on studied parameters but the vermicompost effect was more than nano-manure. Therefore, due to the widespread use of different types of conditioners, nowadays, it is needed to move the application feasibility of conditioners such as vermicompost and nano-manure that these have not the adverse effects of environmental.

Water hammer is one of the unsteady flows in urban water distribution networks, which has been of great importance due to the damage caused to the pipeline and has always been of interest to researchers. In this study, the phenomenon of water hammer due to the sudden closure of the valve in the downstream end has been investigated in a laboratory and using a numerical model. In the laboratory section of the study, the effect of flow changes with control equipment and without control equipment on the maximum and minimum height of pressure wave head was investigated. The results showed that the proper performance of the surge tower pipe in reducing the maximum pressure wave as well as improving the negative pressures in the system. In a maximum discharge of 35.75 liters per minute, surge tower pipe reduced pressure wave head by a maximum of 70.40%. In a minimum discharge of 7.70 liters per minute, the surge tower pipe reduced the height of maximum pressure by 34.82%. Also, in minimum discharge, surge tower pipe has improved the minimum pressure wave head by more than 78%. AFT Impulse numerical model was used to analyze the water hammer. The results of the numerical model were examined in a benchmark problem using a characteristic method and its validity was confirmed. Simulation of laboratory model with numerical software showed that this software only predicts the first wave properly when water hammer produces negative pressures, but in the next cycles it does not show the depreciation rate of the pressure wave, properly.

Reducing surface water resources and successive droughts and consequently excessive use of groundwater resources, especially for agricultural purposes, have caused irreparable damage to the natural resources of the country. In the meantime, knowing the status of the water balance of the plain can help to effective management of water resources in the region. Samalqan plain is located in a semi-arid climate in North Khorasan Province. Since the surface water resources for water supply are not very reliable, so, the main source of water supply in the region is well. Due to the existence of rivers in the plain, the low thickness of the alluvium, groundwater level fluctuations, and the high uncertainty in the calculation of hydrodynamic coefficients, the need for careful hydrogeological studies and determining the role of each parameter affecting groundwater is necessary. This study was conducted to simulate the Samalqan aquifer and analysis of water balance for the years 2003 to 2013 using the MODFLOW model. To identify the groundwater recharge rate, this component was estimated by the SWAT model. Calibration and validation of the model with an error of 1.1% and 1.2%, respectively, indicated that an appropriate estimation between the simulated and observed heads. Assessment of the groundwater hydrograph in the observation wells showed that the groundwater level in most places has many monthly and seasonal fluctuations. After drawing the potential lines of the plain, the inputs and outputs were identified, and using the reserve volume changes, the water balance was determined. The results showed that the water balance of the plain was negative and the reservoir deficit was estimated at 9.14 million cubic meters. Therefore, this model can be used to predict the future situation of aquifer and the management of water resources in the region.