JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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This research is aimed to predict erosion and sedimentation of Tang-e-Kenesht basin in Kermanshah province using MPSIAC and EPM models in GIS software. This basin has about 14348 hectare area. This region has various vegetation, geology and soil texture and land use types. The basin has divided into 9 sub-basins and its maximum and minimum elevations are 3300 and 1400 m, respectively. Needed data were collected in part through published reports, while the remainings were derived by field survey. Necessary maps in MPSIAC and EPM models were prepared in Autocad-2000 medium and were transported to Arc-Info, after some revisions to them. After constructing topologies for all polygons, we entered all layers weights in Arc-View software. Combinations of all layers were managed thereafter. Nine layers for MPSIAC model and three layers for EPM model were combined to result the final layer of erosion and sedimentation. Basin erosion was calculated as 1002.7 and 1739.2 m³/Km² by MPSIAC and EPM models, respectively. The result for basin sediment was 521.7 and 307.8 m³/Km², respectively. Thereafter, medium and high erosion classes were found for the two models under study, respectively. Due to not fully compatible tables for EPM model and its subjective nature, one can conclude that MPSIAC model may have better performance.

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  This research was carried out to study the impacts of geomorphologic characteristics of claypan on land use and land degradation. Databank of the study area was constructed and digital terrain model of claypan was prepared. By using GIS techniques spatial distributions of the subsurface drainage network, sediment transportation index and wetness index were calculated. The results indicate that the depth to the claypan is between 0 (where the pan is exposed at the surface) to 605 cm. There are several depressions in the claypan which are filled by new sediments. Each depression has a catchment which is charged by the drainage water of its attributed lands. While a depression drains naturally or synthetically, the attributed soils over the depression are in non saline or moderate salinity condition otherwise, a marshland, a waterlogging area or a salt crust zone develops over there. The results also indicated that soil surface salinity is a function of depth to claypan and drainage condition of area. The trends of salinity extension are different for closed and open catchments and the depth to the claypan could be estimated using electrical conductivity. The results also show that analysis of microtopography of soil surface and soil stratification should be considered for designing irrigation and drainage networks.

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One of the most important cost factors in forest management, which involves a great deal of investment costs, is road construction. So evaluating forest roads and determining the best one can decrease costs. The objective of this study was to evaluate forest roads using Multi Criteria Evaluation with respect to costs. In Multi Criteria Evaluation method such factors as slope, aspect and soil type were used for suitability map. Then factors were compared in pair-wise comparison in the context of a decision-making process known as the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to develop weights of map layers. To do this, the opinions of some experts were collected using questionnaires and the results were integrated and factor weights were calculated. Then weights and their factors were entered into Multi Criteria Evaluation (MCE) Module to create final suitability map (factors were standardized before combining). Total costs of each variant were extracted from suitability map. After variant costs were obtained by dividing each variant total cost by its length, unit cost of each variant was calculated. Finally, unit costs were compared and the variant with the lowest costs was determined. The results showed that the slope had the greatest weight followed by soil and aspect. Also, variant 7 had the lowest cost and variant 8 the greatest cost. AHP method has the capability of considering qualitative and quantitative criteria so it is a proper method for weighting. Also MCE method in GIS environment has the capability of combining different factors. As it requires less time and cost, also has a higher precision, it is better to use MCE method in such studies.

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Soil characteristics are the most powerful factors in desertification phenomenon. The purpose of this study was investigating soil characteristics as indices for evaluating desertification intensity. The most important indicators of the soil that affect desertification were selected in the present study. Soil samples were taken from Segzi desert vicinity located in the east of Isfahan city with surface area of 112,167 ha. Soil indices such as Soil texture, soil gypsum percentage, the content of HCO3-1, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, the percentage of the organic matter, the content of the soil sodium, chloral and sodium absorption ratio (SAR) were selected. All of these indices were calculated on the thirty four soil samples. After ensuring of the normality of the samples by Klomogrov-Smirnov test, the mentioned indices were imported into GIS for delineating soil characteristics maps. To delineate distribution maps of each soil indice, inverse distance weighting and ordinary and discrete Kriging methods were applied, and appropriate method was selected. Each layer was scored based on MEDALUS model, and the final characteristic maps were then generated using soil geometric mean indices. Results showed that the affected areas of the average, severe and very severe classes of desertification were calculated about 66000, 45650 and 517 ha, respectively. The results also revealed that the indices of the organic matter, soil gypsum percentage, electrical conductivity and SAR were the most influential indicators, which affected desertification in the study area.

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Limitation of available water resources and crisis of water scarcity has been discussed in water conferences since a long time ago. In Iran’s climatic conditions, the most important problem for increasing agricultural production is limitation of available water resources. Drip irrigation methods are one of the suitable solutions for efficient use of water resources under a condition that selection, design, implementation and operation of drip irrigation systems would perform precisely. In this study, potential and suitability of drip irrigation systems in South Khorasan province was analyzed according to climatic conditions, quality of groundwater resources, topographical status and soil profile areas. To do this, all the effective parameters in drip irrigation are zonated and classified using software Arc GIS 9.3 and then using computational average method in AHP they are turned into a map to find suitable places for drip irrigation in the province. According to the study, about 50 percent of the land in South Khorasan province has the ability to use the drip irrigation system. The remaining 50 percent can also be used for drip systems if improved, with the exception of 9 plains. However, the performed drip irrigation plans are rare in this province and there should be more efforts to inform farmers to develop such systems in this province.