JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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Bridge abutments are usually located in the floodplain zone of rivers where velocity and shear stress are not uniformly distributed. The influence of channel geometry and lateral momentum transfer in compound flow field on the scouring phenomenon has not been fully investigated and understood yet. The impact of lateral momentum transfer on the local scour at abutments terminating in the floodplain of a compound channel is presented in this paper.

It is shown that, by accounting for lateral momentum transfer at small floodplain/main channel depth ratios (λ_a/H<0.3), estimates of maximum local scour depth are increased by up to 30%. Therefore, ignoring the influence of the lateral momentum transfer, in such circumstances, might result in unrealistic estimation of the scour depth. To draw a more general conclusion, more data are required to assess the influence of different parameters affecting the phenomenon in compound flow conditions.

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Despite its economic importance, not much information exists on growth and productivity of durum wheat in Iran and Isfahan. In order to evaluate growth, grain yield, and attributes in three durum wheat genotypes, Osta/Gata, Dipper-6, and PI40100, with five planting densities of 200, 275, 350, 425 and 500 seeds/m², a four-replicate RCBD field study with a spilt-plot layout was carried out in winter 2000 to spring 2001 at Lavark Research Farm, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology. Genotypes were the main-plots and planting densities, the sub-plots. Each plot contained six rows, spaced 25cm apart, each 6m in length. While Osta/Gata produced a greater spikes/m², 1000-grain weight and grain yield, PI40100 indicated a greater height, leaf area index (LAI) and biological yield, and Dipper-6 produced a larger number of grains per spike and harvest index, compared to the other two genotypes. Increasing plant density led to an increase in LAI, spikes/m², grain yield, biological yield and harvest index but a decrease in grains/spike and 1000-grain weight. Grain yield was positively correlated with spikes/m², grains/spike and 1000-grain weight, despite negative correlations with LAI and plant height. It may be concluded that with environmental conditions such as those encountered in Isfahan in 2000-2001, Osta/Gata can be planted at approximately 425 seeds/m², if an acceptable grain yield is to be achieved.

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The physiological characteristics of winter wheat(cv. Shiraz) were evaluated in a 2-yrs field study by using a spilit plot design with four replications, at the experimental farm of Shiraz University, College of Agriculture located at Badjgah. Main plots consisted of three sowing dates (November 6^th, December 6^th and January 5^th) and four planting densities (150, 250, 350 and 450 plants/m²) were assigned as sub plots. The results indicated that delay in sowing was associated with a significant reduction in the grain yield. So that the grain yield in sowing date of January 5^th was significantly less than it in sowing dates of November 6^th and December 6^th. Moreover with delay in sowing date the developmental rate of wheat was enhanced and plants reached maturity more rapidly. The trend of the leaf area index changes and the dry weight of the plants were under the effect of experimental treatments, leaf area index was found to be greater at the higher densities and early planting date. Number of stems per m² were decreased with delay in the sowing date, although at the higher densities, the number of stems per m² was greater, despite severe tiller death observed at these densities. The study of trend of dry weight changes during the season indicated that biomass was greater at higher densities and earlier sowings, which resulted in earlier ground cover and higher amount of radiation interception. In conclusion, the results of the present investigation revealed that to achieve a reasonable grain yield, the 6^th of December and 250 plants per m² were the best sowing date and planting density for wheat (cv. Shiraz) under similar agro climatic conditions with the present investigation.

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Dasht Yari plain is nearly 580,000 hectares which is under engraving gully erosion and unfortunately the gully development rate is increased in the recent decades. Satellite images may provide quick, extensive, and valuable information for the interpretation of morphometric characterstics of gully erosion expansion due to having attributes such as time series, relatively low cost, large coverage, and finally being capable of digital analysis. Therefore, this research was initiated to use these possible capabilities to find a quick and cost effective method to determine the morphometric characteristics of gullies with use of the Landsat ETM⁺ digital data of Dasht Yari plain in Chabahar county in southeast of Iran. The Landsat 7 data of 2001 and the field data collected from 25 selected gullies from the same area were used as control in this study. After geometric and haze corrections with use of spectral enhancement methods such as linear enhancement and color composites, the images were made ready for visual interpretation and selection field sites for the subsequent field sampling. On the selected 25 gullies, the field data collection including width, length, and height of gullies at 25%, 50%, and 75% cross sections was performed. At the end of the image processing, with use of image interpretation techniques such filtering, fusion and principal component analysis (PCA), morphometric characteristics of the gullies was computed and compared with the field data. Mean comparison and F and t-student tests were used to verify any statistical differences between two set of the data. The results showed that the data set were different at 1 and 5 percent levels. From the image processing methods, the PCA method had the smallest difference with the field collected data. Therefore, we may conclude that PCA method may be used for monitoring the gully expansion in the Dashat Yari plain and similar plains in the southeast of Iran.

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In order to determine the reciprocal relationship between the important characteristics of soil and the growth of Haloxylon ammodendron (C.A. Mey) plant in segsi plain of Isfahan., ordination method was used. The study was performed through the stratified random sampling and the regions were separated according to the plant age and physical physiognomy, then 10 samples of Haloxylon ammodendron (C.A. Mey) of the same age were selected in each region. Meanwhile, factors such as height, canopy cover area, canopy cover perimeter, canopy cover diameter, and basal area were considered. Also, 30 profiles from viewpoint of growth situations in 10 different regions were dug. Soil characteristics such as : pH, Ec, total soluble Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺, Cl^-, CO3^--, HCO3^-, SP%, CaCO3%, CaSO4%, organic matter%, total nitrogen percentage, phosphorous, Na⁺, K⁺, SAR, and hardpan depth were measured. Data was analyzed using ordination method. According to the results, samples of the same age showed significant differences in plant features. Other results showed that physical characteristics such as depth of hardpan from soil surface, SP%, and chemical characteristics such as salinity, alkalinity and total nitrogen had the highest effect on qualities of this kind of plant. In other words, the results mentioned above showed the important role of Haloxylon ammodendron (C.A. Mey) in sharp increase of salinity and alkanity in it's stratum.

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Defining interrelationship of growth analysis factors and yield of crop plants is important in the field crop production practices. This research was aimed at studying growth factors and grain yield of five maize hybrids, consisting of S.C.704, S.C.700, S.C.647, S.C.604, and S.C.301, using two 4-replicate RCBD experiments in Isfahan, in Summer 2004. While one experiment was irrigated normally, the other one was conducted under delayed irrigation conditions. Maize plants were seeded at 95000 plants/ha in 8-row plots, with rows spaced 0.70m apart and 0.15m distance between plants on each row. Delayed irrigation led to a significant decrease in LAI_max, LAD, LAD_Linear and LAD_s-m, but a significant increase in days to silking. While CGR_Linear significantly correlated with LAI_max, LAD, LAD_Linear and LAD_s-m, a significant correlation was observed between total biomass and grain yield. CGR_Linear, LAI_max, and LAD_s-m significantly correlated with total biomass, and grain yield significantly correlated with yield components, harvest index, CGR_Linear and LAI_max. In conclusion, an increase in LAI_max resulted in a higher CGR_Linear and in turn a greater total biomass. But, considering no significant correlation between total biomass and harvest index, it appears that with the genotypes and under conditions of the present study, allocation of dry matter to grain production did not correlate with the leaf area attributes of corn.

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Root depth is one of the main parameters affecting soil moisture availability held within the plant root zone. This study was conducted to evaluate the trend of corn root development during the growing season in different irrigation methods with two water qualities, and distribution of roots in soil profile. The experiment was a split plot design with three main treatments (subsurface drip(SSD), surface drip(SD) and furrow irrigation(FI)) and two sub main treatments (municipal effluent and fresh water) in two consecutive years conducted in Korbal plain, Fars province. Root monitoring was carried out with the observation of soil profile root depth measurement. Samples were taken during the growing season 16 times, each with a 7 day interval. Measurement of root weight in different soil layers was carried out using monoliths of soil washed with water pressure using 50 mesh sieves. Although the longest roots were observed in plots irrigated with SSD and the shortest in FI, the final root length was not significantly affected by irrigation methods and water qualities. In this research, a model showing the trend of root length average growth was developed and tested in the experiment conditions. The average final main root depth for all treatments was 77 cm. Irrigation volume using root depth monitoring could be reduced compared to linear model, Borg & Grimes and CROPWAT model for root depth estimation. Irrigation water on the base of soil moisture deficit within the root zone in each irrigation event could be reduced when the real root depth is considered compared with the conventional general models giving a final root depth. Results showed the total dry root weight in SSD was more than that in SD and FI methods. However, water quality did not show a significant effect on dry root weight. The most root concentration in SSD was measured in depth of 20-40 cm, while in SD and FI the most concentration was in surface layer (0-20 cm). In the SSD, the roots were distributed more evenly compared with SD and FI methods. The concentration of roots in all treatments below 65 cm was not significant.

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The main aim of flood water spreading in Iran is to recharge groundwater. Understanding the effect and efficiency of such projects is one of the most important activities in managing and implementing water spreading. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of water spreading on groundwater resources in Kohdasht plain. Data and information required including precipitation rate, groundwater level and groundwater exploitation were collected and analyzed for a ten year period. First of all, in order to assess the three variables test of normality was performed and then all the data was normalized. The results showed that before implementing the water spreading project, fluctuations of groundwater were proportional to utilization of groundwater resources, showing a declining rate. After implementing the project, a turning point on groundwater level was observed. Also, another turning point was recognizable in hydrological year 1377-1378. In addition to overexploitation, drought affected the aquifer so dramatically that standard index in hydrological year 1371-1372 decreased from 0.3 to -1.5 in hydrological year 1377-1378.

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In order to study the precision of qualitative land suitability classification method for main irrigated crops (i.e. potato, sugar beet, wheat and alfalfa) in the Shahrekord plain, qualitative land suitability maps were obtained for all the studied crops according to representative pedon analysis using simple limitation method. In the next step, a regular grid sampling consisting of 100 sample points with a distance of 375 m was designed. Then all required analyses were done to recognize the suitability class of these sites for each land use. Finally, land suitability results for all the observation points in each map unit were compared with the results of its representative pedon. The results showed the average of measured compatibility between representative pedon and other observation points in each map unit in class and subclass levels was about 60 % and 38 %, respectively. Due to the generalization of representative pedon analyses to all unit area, the use of soil map units as land suitability units may lead to unsatisfactory results. Therefore, the use of representative pedon is not recommended in sustainable land management and precision agriculture. However, new techniques like geostatistics can be used to improve the conventional soil mapping methods.

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Underground water resources considered as a major source of fresh water. Increasing need to water in Iran, causing to immensely utilization and ground water balance disorder, so that state of ground water in many of area is negative.The purpose of this study is to investigate the trend of changes in some of the characteristics of groundwater during the period 1374 to 1387 is Segzi plain. For this purpose, data gathered from the Organization of regional water and homogenous test with Tom test (Run-test) at 95% confidence level was performed on the data. The independence of data evaluated by time series auto correlated functions (ACF), to do this, the amount of auto correlated data computed in different time delays and finally Mann- Kendall test used to evaluate the trend of time series properties in groundwater. The results of Run-Test showed that all of used series in this study were homogenous (P value< 0.05). The result of trend analysis test for region’s wells showed a significant increase in chlorine in underground water resources (P value< 0.05). Calcium has an increasing Trend too about 3 units. Results also showed that all used series in this study are random and Mann- Kendall trend analysis test can be an appropriate for trend evaluating in data series. As regard to irregular utilization of underground water resources by increasing depth of water level, amount of different salts such as chlorine and sodium increased, that causing to surface source degradation like soil and plant cover in agricultural area.

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Soil surface roughness (SSR) is one of the important factors in wind and water erosion studies and control. Several parameters such as surface rock fragments influence SSR. Main objectives of this paper are to study and compare (Allmarass) random roughness (RR) and tortuosity (Tb) indices in coarse, medium and fine grain plains of Yazd-Ardakan and investigate the relationship between indices and desert pavement coverage. Roughness data were obtained by pin roghness-meter and roller chain in the three mentioned plains. RR and Tb were measured in 90cm transect length with systematic sampling pattern after determining the boundary of three kinds of plains. In each plain, 30 transects were randomly sampled and the height of soil surface roughness fractions was recorded. Distance of pins in the applied roughness meter is about 2cm. Therefore, in each 90 cm transect the height of 46 points was measured. Desert pavement coverage was measured in 20×20cm2 plots. The result showed that desert pavement coverage in coarse, medium and fine grain plains were in the range of 55-100, 40-85 and less than 5%, respectively. The relationship between RR and desert pavement was significant. The result of ANOVA (Duncan) showed, RR and Tb were significantly different in coarse, medium and fine grain plains (p-value<0.01). In addition, by increasing desert pavement percentage RR and Tb increased exponentially in base of Neper number. The relation between RR and desert pavement coverage is stronger than Tb and desert pavement coverage. Correlation between the two measured indices was calculated and compared in different plains. The result revealed that about 54, 33 and 14% of the arability in Tb could be explained by RR in coarse and medium grain plains, respectively. The correlations of two indices were significant in coarse and medium plain and insignificant in fine grain plain. The trend of RR and Tb decreased from mountain to plain center. Although RR increased slightly in fine grain plain, the difference was not significant.

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Desertification is currently a big problem in many countries, especially in developing countries, and includes natural processes and improper human activities. The present study was conducted to evaluate the potential of desertification with an emphasis on water, climate and soil criteria using IMDPA Model in Abbas plain, Ilam province with an area about 18028.8 hectare. Geometric averages for indices including water table fluctuations, EC of water, SAR, irrigation system, annual precipitation, aridity index, drought continuity index, soil texture, soil thickness and Ec of soil were obtained using ArcGIS 9.3 and the status map of each criterion was prepared. The results of climate indicated that 100% of the area is in severe class. The desertification intensity map based on soil criteria demonstrated that over 4843 hectare (28.86 percent of total area) and 13185 hectare (73.13 percent of total area) are in low and moderate classes, respectively. Also, the obtained results from geometric average of water criteria indices showed that 10861.4 hectare (60.2 percent of total area) and 7166.6 hectare (39.75 percent of total area) are in low and moderate classes, respectively. The results also indicated that climate with the value of 2.81 is the most influential criterion in the severity of desertification in the study area. Accordingly, it can be said that the quantitative value of desertification intensity of total area is in moderate class.

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Nowadays, the increasing population and water demand in various sectors of agriculture, industry, drinking and sanitation has brought about tremendous pressure on groundwater resources. Changes in groundwater quality and salinity of the water resources are currently major threats to development, especially in the dry and too dry lands. The aim of this study is evaluation of the trend of changes in groundwater quality, both temporally and spatially, in Kashan plain over a period of 12 years (2002-2013) using geostatistical methods and classification methods namely Shouler and Wilcox. Thereby, Export Choice has been used and each parameter has been weighted according to its effect on water quality changes. Then, the weighted average of water quality parameters was used for zoning the drinking and agriculture water. The results showed that among the geostatistical methods, circular Kriging based on the correlation coefficient has more acceptable performance. Moreover, the results of spatial and temporal changes in water quality based on Shouler and Wilcox indicate a decrease of drink and agriculture water quality in the study area. Besides, 1.75 km² of high quality drinkable water was annually decreased between 2002 and 2013 and replaced with moderate or poor quality water. Also, the same but more remarkable decline happened in agriculture water so that 11.06 km² of high quality agriculture water annually diminished from 2002 to 2009 and plunged zero by 2009.

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To procure the status of groundwater level fluctuations in arid and semi-arid areas, it is necessary to obtain accurate forecast of fluctuations data. Time series as a linear model have been utilized to generate synthetic data and predict future groundwater level. Minitab17 software and monthly depth of groundwater level data of 20 years (1991-2011) for 25 piezometric wells of plain were used. Time series models of each well were selected and 5 years temporal forecasting was accomplished. The predicted depth of groundwater level data was converted to Groundwater level data using ARCGIS10 and GS+5.1.1 software. Ordinary kriging with a spherical variogram was selected for interpolation of groundwater level. Five years spatial forecasting was done and spatial forecasting and groundwater level drop forecasting maps were prepared. Forecasting results of groundwater level show that over the next 5 years, the area covered by two intervals of groundwater level, 1100-1140 m and 1140-1180 m, will increase and the area covered by three ranges of 1180 -1220 m, 1220-1260 m, and 1260-1300 m, will decline. Also, according to the 5-year groundwater level drop forecasting map of the plain, the highest level of groundwater level drop, more than 16 meters for Qasemabad bozorg areas, located in North East and central of the plain, and the lowest level of the groundwater level drop, about 0.5 m for Mohammad Abad Afkham Aldoleh Lands, located in outlet area of the plain, have been predicted.

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Shortage of rainfall and also relatively high intensity precipitations in short-term are characteristics of arid regions of the world, such as central of Iran. Studies have indicated that massive flooding causes great loss of life and properties every year. Also, Water scarcity in arid and semiarid regions of the world will cause fragile living conditions in these areas. Therefore, it is needed to reduce runoff rates using actions such as dam construction or artificial recharge techniques. In this study, seven factors were applied such as the slope, surface permeability, transmissibility in alluvium, alluvial quality, land use, runoff volume and thickness of the unsaturated layer to determine suitable areas and site selection for flood spreading and artificial recharge in south of Kashan plain. After preparing the digital layers, criteria weights were determined using Fuzzy AHP. The weighted maps were acquired and merged together. Results indicated that land use criterion with the greatest weight (0.22) was determined as the first priority in the site selection for flood speading. The parameters of runoff volume, permeability, slope, depth of the unsaturated layer, alluvial quality, and transfer coefficient were accounted as the second to seventh priorities. 

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In this research, to locate and prioritize suitable areas for flood spreading in Mashhad plain, 10 criteria were used including land use, slope, alluvium thickness, distance to well, distance to subterranean, distance from the village, water table drawdown, permeability coefficient, electrical conductivity, and drainage density. Weighting process was done by Analytic Network Process (ANP) and fuzzy logic. After preparing and weighting the maps of all appropriate measures for locating suitable areas of flood spreading maps based on fuzzy logic and analytic network process model, the final map was prepared for prioritizing suitable areas for flood spreading. Then by applying the limiting layer that is a combination of three criteria of land use, slope and geomorphology, the final map of suitable areas for flood spreading was prepared and prioritized. The results showed that among the 10 factors influencing flood spreading, the thickness of alluvium criteria by weight of 0.27 was identified as the most effective layer in suitable areas for flood spreading. Most of the suitable regions located in slope less than 3% that represents its considerable impact in implementation of flood spreading. Mashhad plain potential for flood spreading, after removing exception areas (40.8% of total area), were defined in four inappropriate, relatively appropriate, appropriate and perfectly appropriate classes, that include 2.7, 25.9, 26.5 and 1.5% of the plain area, respectively.

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Treated wastewater may influence soil structure, porosity and as a consequence, soil saturated hydraulic conductivity. This study aims to assess the effect of wastewater on saturated hydraulic conductivity; and to determine the suitable soil solids fractal dimension to incorporate into the pedotransfer function by Rawls et al (1993) for estimation of saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks). Soil saturated hydraulic conductivity was measured by disc permeameter. Soil particle fractal dimension was calculated from linearized forms of mass- time, mass- diameter and mass- diameter as modified by Kravchenko- Zhang (1998) relations. Wastewater irrigation for 13 years increased the saturated hydraulic conductivity three times, from 7 mm/hour to 21 mm/hour, but longer application of wastewater did not further increase it. Rawls et al (1993) pedotransfer produced acceptable and relatively close saturated hydraulic conductivity values to that of disc permeameter when fractal dimension obtained from the linearized forms of mass- diameter and Kravchenko- Zhang relations were used. Therefore, Rawls et al (1993) pedotransfer was capable of reflecting the effect of wastewater application on soil saturated hydraulic conductivity.
 

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In recent years and in many countries, overusing groundwater resources had been higher than their annual feeding amount. This issue caused drop in the groundwater levels, followed by drying wells, qanats and springs. In this study, given the importance of Neyshabur plain in supplying agricultural, industrial and drinkable water of the area, lazy algorithms of KNN, KSTAR and LWL and M5 tree model have been utilized under seven different scenarios in order to estimate groundwater level of this aquifer. To compare the results, the Statistical parameters of root mean square error, correlation coefficient and the average absolute error were analyzed. The results showed that the ‘f’ scenario which contains the volume of water discharged and total precipitation parameters is less efficient because the ground surface level parameter was not taken into account. In ‘a’, ‘b’ and ‘g’ scenarios, an optimum estimation has been maintained for the groundwater level by considering the parameters of total rainfall in the previous month, total rainfall in the last two months and the ground surface level. Among the models of lazy algorithms and M5 decision tree model, the ability of KNN model under ‘a’ scenario was more than other models in December (Azar) by the statistical parameters R^Z=0/96 , RMSE= 6.56 and MAE= 3.53. Also, study of evaluation criteria showed that the LWL is not an appropriate model to predict the level of the water table.
 
 

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