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In the present paper, crop pattern criteria have been evaluated relying on sustainable development to increase agricultural water productivity. Seven criteria were selected as the main environmental and economic criteria and were prioritized and reviewed for important and strategic products in the Tajan catchment of Mazandaran province. Criteria prioritization was done using optimization through a genetic algorithm with an objective function based on sustainable development. Then, physical and economic productivity indices were calculated to determine the productivity value. Based on the results, in the selection of the crop pattern, firstly, the category of economic criteria and finally the category of environmental criteria have been given attention to the farmers in the current situation. But in the genetic optimization algorithm, all priorities have a similar order from the environmental point of view and then from the economic point of view although each product has its order of criteria. By this prioritization, the parameters of the cultivated area, the volume of water consumed, and the amount of chemical fertilizers have decreased on average by 26%, 34%, and 21%, respectively, and the parameters of product performance and profitability have increased by 43% and 61%, respectively. In addition to providing environmental standards and increasing sustainable development, this prioritization causes an average increase in physical productivity by 84% and an increase in economic productivity by 72%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the actual evapotranspiration value and analyzing its temporal trend is essential for optimal water resources management in a basin. In the present paper, the actual evapotranspiration time series is simulated and its trend is analyzed according to the trend of climatic variables and land use in the Ajichi basin during the period of 2015- 1987. The comprehensive SWAT model was set up, calibrated, and validated for the Ajichi basin. Also, the average of simulated actual evapotranspiration of crops (in wet years) was compared with similar values in the National Water Document. The results of the Mann-Kendall trend test showed that the annual rainfall in most meteorological stations had a decreasing trend and the rainfall trend in the ten stations decreased significantly. While the annual maximum temperature at all stations and the annual minimum temperature in most of them have significantly increased. Investigation of land use maps illustrated that the irrigated land area of the basin has increased by a 39% during the study period. According the study's results, the potential evapotranspiration of the basin has had a significant increasing trend with a rate of 2.54 mm per year. The results indicated that despite the increasing trend of potential evapotranspiration and irrigated land area, the actual evapotranspiration of the basin had a significant decreasing trend with a rate of 2.2 mm per year due to the decrease in rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Splash (raindrop) erosion plays an significant role in soil loss, especially in arid and semi-arid regions with poor vegetation. In this paper, by analyzing the pattern of rainfalls that occurred during 26 years in four basins located in Semnan County, their effect on the pattern of eroded sediments from the basin was investigated. Sedimentary layers from the sampling of retarding reservoir sediments in 2017 were related to the corresponding precipitations. Due to the occurrence of the highest amount of rainfall in each quarter of rainfall, rainfall hyetographs were divided into four categories. Cumulative precipitation curves with similar quartiles were drawn in one shape and compared with sediment curves and vice versa taking into account the physical characteristics of the basin. The results showed that the Aliabad basin (with less slope and more elongation) with an effective quarter of type 3 had the highest similarity in precipitation and sediment patterns. Also, the Western Soldereh basin (with the highest slope and the least elongation) with an effective quarter of type 2 had the least similarity in precipitation and sediment patterns. The results indicate the vital role of rainfall patterns on the resulting sediment patterns, which show up to 85% similarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protection of rivers’ water quality as the most accessible source of the water supply has always been considered. In this paper, self-purification and the pollution decay coefficient values of Talar River, IRAN were studied based on field measurement of DO, BOD, pH, EC, Nitrate, Phosphate, and Temperature, in four seasons of the year 2018, in tandem with the river simulation and its calibration using QUAL2Kw model and the Streeter-Phelps method. In addition to the modeling and analysis results, the measured laboratory data values of the river water samples are also presented. Based on the results, the DO variations were ranged from 5.15 in summer to 7.47 mg/l in spring and BOD variations ranged from 1.88 in fall to 7.9 mg/l in summer. Also, according to the Streeter-Phelps method the decay coefficient values varied from 1.57 (1/day) in spring to 9.63 (1/day) in fall. The values of the Talar River decay coefficient also varied from 2 in fall to 7.7 (1/day) in summer involving the QUAL2Kw model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing an optimal crop pattern and on-time water allocation of water resources along with deficit irrigation are among the optimal solutions to maximize the water economic efficiency index. In this paper, the simultaneous optimization of crop pattern and water allocation are discussed using the deficit irrigation method. The study area is located west of the Qazvin plain irrigation network. The six different levels of percentage reduction of irrigation rate (0, 0 to 10, 0 to 20, 0 to 30, 0 to 40, and 0 to 50%) in three climatic conditions consist of dry, normal, and wet years were compared. The best irrigation scenario was selected for each year, and the results were compared with the existing crop pattern of the same year. The new crop pattern included the main crops of the region and the addition of rapeseed. The objective was to reach the maximum net benefit per unit volume of water by considering the maximum extraction of monthly and annual surface and groundwater. The results showed that the best scenario in the dry year was maximum deficit irrigation up to 20%, in a normal year full irrigation, and a wet year maximum deficit irrigation up to 10%. The improvement of economic water productivity in a dry year was 52.2%, in a normal year 41.5%, and in a wet year is 19.6% compared to the existing crop pattern. The average percentage of annual irrigation supply increases from 64.3 to 91.7% in a dry year, from 70 to 100% in a normal year, and from 77.5 to 97.1% in a wet year. Also, the relative yield of all crops, especially wheat, alfalfa, and sugar beet significantly increases. Therefore, the gravitational search algorithm as an optimization model can be considered in selecting the suitable crop pattern and allocation of surface and groundwater resources concerning economic benefits in irrigation networks management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In drought risk management, the regional analysis of drought is significant. In this paper, this important issue is investigated by presenting the new hydrological regional drought index (RDI). For this purpose, the Ajichai basin was selected as the study area. First, the time series of the streamflow drought index (SDI) was calculated for each of the hydrometric stations in the basin f regional analysis of hydrological drought. Then, to determine the homogeneous regions in terms of hydrological drought, the k-means method was used for clustering analysis. Based on the clustering results, 6 Homogeneous regions were identified in the basin. For each of these regions, the time series of the RDI index was calculated from 1365 to 1393. The results showed that during the study period in each of the regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, mild Wet and mild drought has occurred at 82.1, 80.1, 78.9, 83.3, and 84.3 percent of regions, respectively. Also, the total percentage of drought events (moderate and high) is higher than the total percentage of wet events (moderate and high) in all regions. So, during the study period, the total percentage of drought events (moderate and high) is more than twice the total percentage of wet events (moderate and high) in regions 2 and 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

The prediction of local scouring as a dynamic and nonlinear phenomenon using methods of acceptable predictive capability has always been of interest to researchers. The shape of the bridge pier is one of the important factors in the formation and magnitude of the scour hole. In this paper, the scour depth of three bridge piers with cylindrical, sharp nose and rectangular shapes was predicted in two scenarios using the support vector machine algorithm with 395 field data obtained from the US Geological Survey and Froehlich (1988), based on different combinations of dimensionless parameters as the water attack angle (α), Froud number (Fr), the ration of pier length to width (l/b), and the ratio of mean sediment size to pier width (D50/b). The results of the study, while confirming the acceptable performance of the SVM algorithm for all piers in both scenarios, showed that in the first and second scenarios, the most optimal performance was related to the rectangular pier shape with correlation coefficient of 0.8702 and 0.8838, with and maximum Ds (DDR) values of 0.854 and 1.229 respectively, during the testing phase. The positive effect of increasing the number of data on the performance of the SVM algorithm was also confirmed by further probing the evaluation indicators. The results of the comparison pointed out the overestimation of the predicted scour depth values of absolute error between 11% to 35%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drilling material from the tunnel of the Tehran-Shomal highway was estimated to be about 2.5 Million Cubic Meters by the project authorities. Sadly, from the beginning, the drilling materials had been deposited on the open space in the floodplain of the Chaloos river with slightest environmental considerations. During the previous years, weathering and leaching from the drilled materials besides the discharge of drain water from the tunnel had led to seriouse contaminations and the deterioration of the water quality of the Chaloos river. In this paper, the ecological risk of nonorganic pollutants due to drilled materials was investigated. The sampling was done from the excavated materials and river sediment in five different locations throughout a complete year. From the many pollutants, Nickel, Cadmium and Copper were chosen to be investigated. The results showed that almost 15 percent of the samples had a high degree of pollution, while 60 percent of them were clean and the other 25 percent included the highly contaminated ones. All samples were also estimated to have a low to high ecological risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biocementation through microbial induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a recently developed new branch in geotechnical engineering that improves the mechanical properties of bio-treated soils. The potential application of MICP to handle problems such as liquefaction and erosion has been established; this technique offers an environmentally friendly, cost-effective and convenient alternative to traditional soil improvement approaches. Nevertheless, in spite of the widespread demonstration of the process at laboratory scale, few field and practical applications have been implemented to assess the efficiency of the biochemical process. Therefore, this paper presents a review of the utilization of MICP for soil improvement and discusses the treatment process including the key constituents involved and the main affecting factors, especially in field scale applications. The major contribution of this research is to identify the main parameters restricting the application of this method on site. Finally, technical and commercial progress in the industrial adoption of the technology and the main challenges that are ahead for the future research prior to real practical application are briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, to reduce the risks of contaminants, new remediation techniques have been focused on low-cost and environmentally friendly manners. Given the frequency of access, inexpensiveness and good physical and chemical properties, biochar has a high potential for the remediation of water pollutants. In this paper, the efficiency of chitosan engineered biochar (Bc-Ch) and pristine biochar (Bg-Bc) prepared from sugarcane bagasse biomass (Bg) in the Cd2+ removal in aqueous solution was investigated. To this aim, the effects of contact time, adsorbent dosage and solution pH on cadmium removal were evaluated by adsorption isotherms and Kinetic models. The results indicated that the Langmuir isotherm and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model could be well fitted with the process of cadmium biosorption. The maximum adsorption capacities of Bc-Ch, Bg-Bc and Bg ,according to Langmuir model, were found to be 32/78 mg/g, 11/57 mg/g and 2/23 mg/g, respectively. For these absorbents, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model showed the best fit to the experimental adsorption data. This study, therefore, indicated that the chitosan engineered biochar could be used as an effective, low-cost, and environmentally-friendly sorbent to remediate heavy metals contamination in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is the use of energy for groundwater pumping. Reducing energy consumption is very important to achieve the environmental sustainability and decrease the climate change impacts. In this paper, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from groundwater pumping in the Guilan's aquifers was investigated. Firstly, groundwater depletion and the types of pumps for water pumping were examined in the current condition; then, the values of consumed energy, GHG emissions and climate change indicator of the current condition were estimated. The primary investigations showed that 55 percent of wells in the studied region had a diesel engine pump, while 51.3 percent of the required energy for groundwater pumping was supplied by electric pump. Calculated total GHG emissions and the value of climate change indicator in the current condition were equal to 8.98 and 7.59 Milion kg CO eq 2 , respectively. In order to achieve environmental sustainability and energy security, scenarios of replacing electric pumps and applying solar energy were examined. The results of the scenarios showed that diesel fuel wells had no significant effect on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but the use of solar energy reduced them. GHG emissions, in comparison with the base scenarios, were decreased by 44.4% in June, July and August, respectively, by applying the scenario of using the solar pump in agricultural section. Therefore, it is preferred to apply policies in future planning to use renewable energies such as solar energy instead of diesel and electricity energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the preparation of flood zoning maps is one of the basic and important issues in the study of development projects in the world; it is considered before any investment by the related organizations. In this paper, flood zoning was performed using the two-dimensional model HEC-RAS and GIS in order to assess the risk of the construction of a railway station near the bank of the Iranshahr River, in a range of 2500 meters. Two-dimensional hydraulic application could create a more accurate flow pattern in comparison to the one-dimensional model used in the previous studies, especially in the flood plain areas. In this paper, due to the important role of the topography of the area in ensuring the accuracy of the calculation, a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was used with very high precision (about 2 meters), as obtained from aerial photos. The results of this study indicated the onrush of flood, depth and flow velocity in different return periods. Based on the comparison of water surface profiles in the floodplains with the return period of 100 and 25 years, the maximum difference between the water levels was 0.5 m, which seemed to be reasonable by considering the low slope of the studied area. The results of this paper, therefore, showed that the location of the railway station was in medium risk and the outskirt of floodplain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental and numerical study of scouring pattern on the direct and polo-shaped groynes have been investigated in this paper. In this study, direct and polo-shaped groynes models with a length of 0.12 meter have been used in discharges of 10.5, 15, 20 liters per second in a direct flume. The results showed that the maximum scour depth formed around the groyne head of direct and polo-shaped types has increased with augmentation of flow discharge, which was 0.095 and 0.104 meter in the case of 20 L/s discharge respectively. Also, the width of scour hole was 2.25 and 2 times of effective length of the groyne in direct and polo-shaped groynes respectively. In this regards, maximum scour depth around the head of groyne was seen 0.87 and 0.79 times of the effective length of the groyne. Sand form located at downstream of the direct groyne at the distance of 0.09 and 0.15 meters from the side wall of direct groyne was stretched and extended to about 1.3 times of the channel width as well. While the length of the sand form for direct groyne was 1.15 times of the channel width. Overall, the dimensions of the scour hole around the polo-shaped groyne, was less than the direct groyne. In addition to understanding the hydraulic behaviour around the groyne, Flow3D software was used. Statistical survey of the results obtained by experimental and numerical models attested that the relative error of the numerical model could be about 20%, which shows an appropriate performance of using Flow3D for predicting the maximum scour depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the factors leading to the contamination of water resources is human activity, producing waste materials. In this paper, the effects of contamination on the water quality of Taleghan River, was simulated using of Qual2k model and the seasonal changes were evaluated. The qualified data collected during two months, August (as the dry season) and February (as the wet season), were used in the modelling. The results showed that the dissolved oxygen change was in the range of 4.5-6.52 mg/L in August. However, it changed between 4.8-5.3 mg/l in February and this reduction in the wet season was due to the run off deposition and the seepages of farmland near the river. Furthermore, BOD in the wet season and the dry season changed by 6-31 and 10-26 mg/l, respectively. These changes were due to the sewage dilution in flow during the wet season. Evaluation of the pH values in wet and dry seasons also showed that water of the river was more alkaline in the wet season, which is due to the effect of non-point resources or the fertilizer entrance after farm land bleaching by rain. Evaluation of Taleghan river EC variation also showed these changes were not significant during the wet and dry seasons. Water temperature was altered by 3-10°C and 19-25°C, respectively, in February and August. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A water distribution network (WDN) may not be able to satisfy all required demands when it’s in the pressure deficit mode or under over-loaded demand conditions. Analysis of the network in this mode requires pressure dependent analysis (PDA). Unlike demand driven analysis (DDA), PDA needs an extra equation for every node to relate the nodal demand and the nodal pressure; so it should be solved with the other network’s equations simultaneously. In this paper, based on the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, a decision support system has been developed by using MATLAB and EPANET for PDA simulation in WDNs. A four-loop network selected from the literature was analyzed using different scenarios and different pressure dependent functions presented by the previous investigations. The results showed that the proposed model (PSO-PDA) was as accurate as the previous ones and provided better convergence. The results of the nodes’ pressure and discharge also indicated minor differences obtained by different PDA functions. However, the differences between the results of PDA and DDA were considerable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, fluctuations of inflow into the Karun-4 Dam under different scenarios of the climate change for the future period of 2021-2050 were investigated. For this purpose, the outputs of the HadCM3 model under the scenarios of B1 (optimistic) and A2 (pessimistic) were utilized for the fourth report; additionally, the outputs of the ensemble model under RCP 2.6 (optimistic) and RCP 8.5 (pessimistic) scenarios were used for the fifth report. Moreover, in order to estimate runoff in the future period, the artificial neural network was considered as a rainfall-runoff model. The results indicated that the average annual precipitation in the five study stations under B1 and RCP 2.6 scenarios was increased by 15 and 5%, respectively, while it showed a decrease equal to 8 and 6%, respectively under the scenarios A2 and RCP 8.5. Furthermore, the average annual temperature in all scenarios showed increase, which was at least 1.06 ⁰C under the scenario B1 and 1.89 ⁰C under scenario RCP 8.5. Examining the input inflow into the Karun-4 dam showed that under both B1 and RCP 2.6 scenarios, the annual inflow will be increased by 1.8 and 1.5%, respectively; under the two scenarios A2 and RCP of 8.5, the annual inflow will be decreased to 10.4 and 9.8%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spectral Reflectance of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) remotely sensed by satellite images is an alternative and economically efficient method to measure SSC in inland waters such as rivers and lakes, coastal waters, and oceans. This paper retrieved SSC from satellite remote sensing imagery using radial basis function networks (RBF). In-situ measurement of SSC, water flow data, as well as MODIS band 1 and band ratio of band 2 to 1 were the inputs of the RBF. A multi-regression method was also used to make a relationship between the in-situ data and the water reflectance data retrieved from MODIS bands. The results showed that RBF had the best SSC prediction error (RMSE=0.19), as compared to the multi-regression and sediment rating curve methods, with the RMSE of 0.29 and 0.21, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind erosion is the most important geomorphic process and the main cause of the landscape change in arid and semiarid areas. This paper focuses on the Dust Storm Index (DSI) with the aim of monitoring wind erosion in Central Iran using meteorology data. The trend of standardized DSI and its three factors which are sever dust storm, moderate dust storm and local dust events were studied using Man-Kendal non-parametric test. It was found that wind erosion is accelerating in recent years. Compared to primary 20 years (1965-1985) DSI rate has been three times more than 30 years ago (1985-2014). The central and southern parts of Central Iran show the highest severity of wind erosion and the severity of DSI decreases by approaching the north. Therefore, considering the sensitivity of these areas, in addition to taking into account prevention programs, they should also be considered in regeneration and control programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basin irrigation is one of the conventional surface irrigation methods used to irrigate many crops all over the world. EDOBASIN, a new mathematical model for evaluation, design and optimal operation of basin irrigation has been introduced in this paper. In this model the linear combination of desired efficiencies are considered in an objective function, and based on decision variables that include discharge, length and width of basin and also restrictions of parameters, the optimal design is performed. This model is a simulation-optimization model in which the volume balance equations are used for hydrodynamic simulation and SA method are used for optimization steps. Optimization capabilities with various decision options and allowing weights to the indicators are good characteristics of this model. Comparison of advance time in this model with the well-known model SIRMOD for a real condition showed a good accuracy in the evaluation phase. In addition, the significant improvement of efficiencies after optimizing them simultaneously indicate that the model is an efficient tool for optimal design and use of this model for a data plot of an experimental field could enhance the efficiency of deep percolation ratio and application efficiency to 20% and keep constant the level of 100% for the efficiencies of water requirement and distribution uniformity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed to assess the severity of desertification in Segzi plain located in the eastern part of Isfahan city, focusing on groundwater quality criteria used in MEDALUS model. Bayesian Belief networks (BBNs) were also used to convert MEDALUS model into a predictive, cause and effects model. Different techniques such as Kriging and IDW were applied to water quality data of 12 groundwater wells to map continuous variations of the CL, SAR, EC, TDS, pH and decline in water table indices in GIS environment. The effects of measured water quality indicators on desertification severity levels were assessed using sensitivity and scenario analysis in BBNs model. According to the results of the MEDALUS, the desertification of the study area was classified as severe class due to its low quality of groundwater. Sensitivity analysis by the both models showed that decline in waater table, water chloride content and electrical conductivity were the most important parameters responsible for desertification in the region from ground water condition standpoint. The determination coefficient between the outputs of the MEDALUS and BBNs models (R2>0.63) indicated that the results of both models were significantly correlated (α=5 %). These results indicate that the application of BBNs model in desertification assessment can appropriately accommodate the uncertainty of desertification methods and can help managers to make better decision for upcoming land management projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ab-Barik watershed in Bam is a part of Lut desert basin. It is like all other desert areas which has erosion problems caused by wind erosion, sand and soil storms. The result of these sand storms appears as continuous and isolated sand hills. In this paper it was attempted to identify direction and source of harvest points by using sedimentological methods. This was accomplished by step by step sand processed method. At the first step the main direction of harvest areas was determined by some studies such as collecting public information, the study of general morphology and measuring sand hill, comparison of aerial photos in different periods and analysis of region winds. At the second step the origin of sand areas was recognized by investigations such as the study of geomorphological facies of lands of harvest regions with emphasis on morphodynamic wind, granulation of sand hills elements and surface soil of erosionic facies plots at harvest lands, study of morphoscopy of forming particles of samples and determination of indices including central diameter, roundness, sorting and mineralogy of samples. The results revealed that the main source of sands is clay pan facies and farm lands, especially waste lands. Also, the main direction of harvest areas displacement is from south, southwest to north, and northeast. Application of results of this study can modify the used management methods, controlling and confronting with the problem of wind erosion and sand and soil storms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the lack of water resources and excessive evaporation in the country, it is necessary to have a detailed irrigation program and a suitable management method. The present research was conducted to investigate the effect of superabsorbent and mulch in Khorramabad in July 2022 in a factorial combination with a completely randomized design in three replications. The first experimental factor was irrigation water treatment in 4 levels including irrigation that provided 100% water requirement (I100), 80% of crop water requirement (I80), 60% of crop water requirement (I60), and 40% of crop water requirement (I40). The second factor included different corrective materials including plant mulch (M), superabsorbent (S), and control treatment (I). The results showed the maximum amount of wet and dry yield and crop height was related to I100-M treatment, i.e. 100 percent water requirement and compost corrective material, which were 89.52 tons per hectare, 29.42 tons per hectare, and 2.27 meters. The maximum wet and biological productivity for I40-S was calculated as 14.24 kg of wet matter per cubic meter of water and 4.75 kg of dry matter per cubic meter of water. The lowest wet and dry yields were related to I40-M, which decreased the yield of the control treatment by 6.5 percent and 0.9 percent. The lowest productivity was related to the I100-S treatment, which was calculated as 3.13 kilograms per cubic meter of water for biological productivity and 9.14 kilograms per cubic meter of water for wet weight productivity. In general, mulch had a better performance in the treatments where the water stress was low, but when the water stress increased, the performance of the mulch treatments decreased. In the superabsorbent matter, the treatments with complete irrigation or with less stress, yield decreased, but the treatments with increased stress showed better results than most of the corrective materials and the control treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Desertification is a phenomenon that has more destructive effects in arid, semi-arid, and semi-humid regions than in other regions. This paper tries to provide a map of the future of desertification in Tehran Province, for futurism in the face of land degradation and desertification. The IMDPA model was used to evaluate land degradation and desertification. To use this model and evaluate desertification, three criteria of groundwater including groundwater depletion, electrical conductivity, and sodium adsorption ratio indices, climate criterion including precipitation, aridity, and drought indices, and land use criteria were selected as key criteria effected on desertification according to regional conditions. Land use index map with IGBP standard and zoning map of other indicators were prepared by IDW method for 2011 and 2016. The maps of land use index and other indices were predicted using the CA-Markov model in TerrSet software, and using the RBF method in artificial neural network toolbox, respectively. Scoring based on the IMDPA model, the maps of indices and criteria maps were prepared for 2011, 2016, and 2021. Finally, the desertification intensity map was calculated by geometric averaging for all three criteria for all three time periods. The results showed that 59.78% and 40.22% of the area of Tehran Province were in the low and medium classes, respectively. However, in 2016, the area of the medium class has increased to a 44.8%, and it is predicted that this increase will continue until 2021 so that 47.65% of the area of Tehran Province will be in the medium class. In addition, in this year, about 1% of the area of Tehran Province will be allocated to the high class in the western regions, which did not exist in the previous two periods. In general, due to human activities, the intensity of desertification in the western and southern parts of the province is higher than in the eastern and northern regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydraulic jump is the most common method of dissipating water's kinetic energy in downstream of spillways, shoots and valve. In this paper, Support Vector Machine (SVM) method, as a machine learning method, have been used to estimate hydraulic characteristics such as the sequent depth ratio, jump length and energy loss in three different sudden expansions stilling basins, and the rate of influence of input parameters in each jump has been analyzed. In order to evaluate the performance of proposed method, 936 sets of the observed data have been used for training and testing process of three kinds of expanding channel models. Furthermore, a comparison between semi-theoretical approaches and the data obtained from the best SVM models have been carried out. The results confirmed the efficiency of SVM method for estimating the hydraulic jump characteristics and proved that this method performed well in comparison to the semi-theoretical relationships. The obtained results revealed that the superior model for the sequent depth ratio and relative energy dissipation was the model with (Fr1, 1h B) parameters and the superior model for the length of hydraulic jump prediction was the model with (Fr1, 2 1 h h ) parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Appropriate criteria and methods are required to assess desertification potential in various ecosystems. This paper aimed to assess desertification levels in Segzi plain located in east part of Isfahan, with a focus on soil quality criteria used in MEDALUS model. Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) were also used to convert MEDALUS model into a predictive, cause and effects model. Soil samples were collected from 17 soil profiles in all land units and some of their characteristics such as texture, soluble sodium and chlorine, organic material, Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR), Electrical Conductivity (EC) and CaSo4 of all soil samples were determined in soil laboratory. The effects of measured soil quality indicators on desertification intensity levels were assessed using sensitivity and scenario analysis in BBNs. Results showed that the used integrated method can appropriately accommodate uncertainty in the desertification assessments approaches created as a result of the influence of different soil characteristics on desertification. According to the results of MEDALUS model, 28.28 % and 71.72 % of the study area were classified as poor and moderate areas in terms of soil quality respectively. Sensitivity analysis by both models showed that soil organic matter, SAR and EC were identified as the most important edaphic variables responsible for desertification in the study area. Evaluating the effects of various management practices on these variables can assist managers to achieve sound management strategies for controlling desertification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the efficiency of four hybrid horizontal-vertical subsurface constructed wetlands which have been built for the tertiary treatment of Isfahan North Wastewater Treatment Facility and removal of organic matters was evaluated. In these constructed wetlands three plants including Phragmites australis, Typha latifolia and Arundo donax were planted and one unit left unplanted. The results of 12 months of sampling showed that the type of vegetation has no significant influence on the organic matter removal in the subsurface constructed wetlands, although the removal efficiencies in the planted constructed wetlands were more than unplanted control one. The COD and BOD5 removal efficiency in the constructed wetlands changes between 77% to 83% and 84% to 86%, respectively, during the operation period. The results of this research also showed that the organic matter removal was dependent on the influent organics nature and biodegradability. The first order model constants were calibrated in different wetlands for designing main projects. The organic concentration in the wetland effluents met the Iranian regulation limits for different reuse applications that shows the constructed wetland is a suitable technology for wastewater treatment in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several indices are used for drought identification and quantification. In this paper, the new Standardized Palmer Drought index (SPDI) was introduced and then the drought condition of Chaharmahal-Va-Bakhtiari Province was studied using this index. For this study, 11 synoptic, climatology, and evaporation meteorology stations were selected. Essential information in this investigation includes monthly temperature, monthly precipitation, and soil moisture measurement. To estimate SPDI, moisture departure, was first calculated on a monthly time scale. Then, converted to cumulative moisture departure values in different time scales including 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24 months. The best statistical distribution (GEV) was then fitted to cumulative departure. These values were then standardized to have the SPDI. The results showed that, as soil moisture affects SPDI estimation, it will be more valid for analyzing and monitoring drought conditions, especially for agricultural drought. Also, the results showed that 2000, 2001, and 2008 years were the driest time in this Province from 1988 to 2012. Moreover, drought frequency was found out in the western half of the Province more than in the other parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of watersheds and sustainable development today requires the most suitable and fastest method of obtaining and integrating information for optimal management and planning. One of the challenges of watershed management in the stage of planning and implementation of remedial and rehabilitation operations is choosing the appropriate and correct location; to have the necessary maximum efficiency and effectiveness, due to the high cost of mechanical operations and the lack of financial resources, select the right place to construct mechanical corrective dams has particular importance. Therefore, the objective of this research was to locate mechanical watershed management operations with a multi-criteria approach using AHP and ANP decision methods and compare the two methods in the geographic information system environment at the Saqezchi-Chay watershed. The research criteria and sub-criteria of 14 variables included soil (depth and texture), climate (type and precipitation amount), land use and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), hydrological factors and soil protection (flow accumulation, sedimentation rate, and curve number), topography (elevation and slope) and economic and social (distance from the village, from loan sources and the road). Expert judgments for weighting were collected through a questionnaire and in a field method with a statistical population of 29 experts and university professors. The results of this research showed that the ANP method had a significant correlation with the AHP method at the level of 95% and with an intensity of 0.839 and by comparing the prioritization of the two methods with Masonry Check Dams structures implemented in the SaqezchiChay watershed, it was determined that the ANP method prioritizes with more accuracy and resolution due to its network nature and increasing the range of changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sector depends largely upon water and energy resources to fulfill sufficient water for producing adequate food for the rapidly growing world’s population. It requires great effort to improve water and energy productivity for agricultural products to provide consumers’ health as well as environmental protection. In this study, the volume of irrigated water, crop yield, water productivity, and the consumed energy for onion crops irrigated with sprinkler or surface irrigation methods under farmer management were measured and compared. The measurements were recorded from 2020 to 2021, on 17 farms across Esfahan Province where onion was a main crop in the region. The measured data from the foregoing two irrigation methods were statistically analyzed using t-test and Pearson correlation coefficients. The outcomes revealed that the volume of irrigated water as well as crop yield was greater for surface irrigation method compared to sprinkler irrigation, and the differences were statistically significant. Moreover, water productivity for onions irrigated with a sprinkler irrigation system was significantly higher (p<0.01) in comparison with onions irrigated with the surface method. In addition, the results indicated a significantly direct correlation between the volume of irrigated water and onion yield, whereas a significantly indirect correlation was observed between the volume of irrigated water and water productivity. A significantly inverse correlation was found between the productivity of energy for irrigation and energy consumption; so, an increase in the energy for irrigation resulted in a decrease in energy productivity. Based on the results of this study, the sprinkler method is more effective than the surface for irrigation of onion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research explores the experimental and numerical investigation of homogeneous earth dams in rapid drawdown conditions. The numerical model was evaluated and calibrated due to the saturation status using the experimental model. The calculated error between the piezometric pressure data and the seepage line in the numerical and experimental model indicated that the results of the Seep/W numerical model data had acceptable accuracy. Also, to determine the thickness of the filter adjusted in the upstream side slope of the homogeneous earth dam in rapid drawdown condition, input data to the numerical model including hydraulic conductivity, rate of the water level drop (depletion of the dam reservoir in three scenarios of 2, 3, and 4 days), the different side slopes of the body (m = 1, 2, and 3), and the thickness of the filter layers were determined. It is worth mentioning that the number of layers and the soil properties of the filter materials were determined based on the USBR which consisted of three types of soil structure (sand, gravel, and gravel with sand). The maximum hydraulic gradient of the dam materials was used to estimate the thickness of the filter layers. Finally, some dimensional fewer numbers were presented to estimate the filter layers by changing the input data through the numerical model to attain the safe conditions for the values of the hydraulic gradient at the upstream side slope. Results of the numerical model indicated that for the construction of the dam with the thickness of the presented filter, the values of the available hydraulic gradient at the point of water exit from the upstream side slope of the body of the earth dam were lower than the critical hydraulic gradient of the earth dam materials in rapid drawdown condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Localized irrigation methods can be used to manage low water holding capacity in the sandy soils. In this research, the effects of different irrigation systems including pot, tape and drip irrigation with gravity pressures of 0.5, 1.5 and 3 meters on the sandy soil moisture distribution under watermelon cultivation were compared with the furrow irrigation as the control treatment. The moisture content of the soil at different depths and at the distance of 5 and 20 cm from the plant was measured using the TDR device. Water distribution study showed that in the pot irrigation method, the moisture content of different depths of soil was kept constant by 16% during the irrigation interval, but the highest moisture content was observed in gravitional drip irrigation treatment at the depths of 40, 50 and 60 cm; in contrast, the lowest amount of moisture was observed in the pot irrigation treatment. In tape and gravitional drip irrigation system with gravity pressure, in addition to the adjustment soil moisture up to 15 to 22% within the wetting front, soil moisture can be kept almost constant by pulsed irrigation technique. Therefore, while providing the use of drip irrigation system with minimum water pressure available in most of the agricultural land (0.5 m), using pot irrigation can ensure sandy soil moisture retention and soil for the cultivation of fruits such as watermelon plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing need for water resources and controlling the discharge of wastewater into the environment shows the necessity of wastewater treatment. Green methods such as constructed wetlands and phytoremediation use biological processes in the environment for wastewater treatment. Considering the effect of cultivated constructed wetland performance from wastewater quality and climatic factors, the objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of hybrid and subsurface vertical and horizontal wetlands to improve the biological and chemical oxygen demand of the wastewater treatment plant in Rasht City. The effect of Phragmites australis and Typha latifolia plants on the treatment performance was investigated. Wastewater retention time in wetlands varies from monthly in winter and weekly in spring and summer. The results showed that the performance of wetlands in reducing biological oxygen demand (BOD) was more than chemical oxygen demand (COD). Plants improved the performance of the wetland by more than 50%, but no significant difference was observed between the performances of the two plants. The arrangement of the plant's cultivation was not effective in the amount of biological and chemical oxygen removal. The hybrid wetland was able to improve the wastewater quality twice as much as the vertical wetland. Comparing the concentration of the effluents from the wetlands with the standards showed that the effluents from the hybrid wetlands could only be used for agricultural consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most common approaches for farm irrigation management is using soil readily available water and allowable depletion coefficient. The objective of this study was to determine wheat crop response coefficients, critical moisture content, and soil allowable depletion coefficient using a physically based method in three dominant soils under wheat cultivation in Khuzestan province. Treatments included full irrigation and water stress at three levels low, moderate, and high. The highest and lowest values of wheat crop response coefficient were related to silty clay loam (Ky=1.26) and clay loam (Ky=0.96), respectively. Critical soil moisture content was observed in loam soil (0.25 cm3 cm-3 )> silty clay loam (0.23 cm³ cm-3 )> clay loam (0.22 cm³ cm-3 ), respectively. Despite the higher critical moisture content in loam, the most soil allowable depletion coefficient was also calculated in loam (0.54). Soil allowable depletion coefficient in silty clay loam and clay loam were 0.44 and 0.42, respectively. The results confirmed the simultaneous effects of soil and plant properties on the availability of soil water for the plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to water scarcity, it is impossible to utilize all irrigated cropland in arid and semi-arid areas. Therefore, dense cultivation with a drip irrigation system that delivers water directly to the plant's root zone is an appropriate choice to enhance water productivity. The objectives of the present study were to compare wheat yield and water productivity under two different water distribution patterns in the drip-tape irrigation system and surface irrigation in full irrigation and deficit irrigation levels. The experimental treatments consist of two irrigation systems (drip-tape (DT), and surface irrigation (SU)), and three different irrigation levels (a full irrigation level (W1), two deficit irrigation levels, the irrigation interval twice, and the same irrigation depth of W1 level (W2), applied half of the irrigation depth of W1 level at the same time (W3)). The SU was implemented in place with 100% efficiency to avoid runoff. The yield in full irrigation level in DT was 5338.4 kg/ha and in SU was 5772.8 kg/ha. Applying deficit irrigation in two irrigation systems has different effects due to various water distribution patterns. In the DT, the most yield reduction was in W2, and in SU was in W3. The highest water productivity in DT was observed in W3 with a 1.44 kg/m³ value. The highest water productivity in SU was observed in W2 with a 1.46 kg/m3 value. For each irrigation system, some type of deficit irrigation management is optimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the introduction of cities and urbanization, healthy water supplement and urban wastewater treatment have been considered as an important factor to evaluate progress in the urban areas. Tehran as a megacity is facing the lack of water. Tehran water supplement is far from its area; therefore, Tehran-Karaj plain has been considered in this study. So, Tehran water quantity index using the DPSIR model (Driving force, Pressure, Status, Impact and Response) in a period of 3 years (2008-2010) was considered in this paper. Driving forces included population, urbanization, green spaces, and industries. Pressures on urban water included water consumption, water losses, rainfall and evaporation. Then, Tehran water quantity status was investigated based on the existing water in dam reservoirs and groundwater resources. Their impacts on urban area were evaluated and finally, appropriate responses were presented. Some of the presented approaches included industries transmission, improvement of water consumption pattern, improvement of the water treatment plants status and unconventional water resources reuse, identification and rearrangement of subterranean, improvement of irrigation systems operation, and reduction of Tehran urban population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to assess the groundwater quality near Qaemshahr landfill site using the Iran Water Quality Index for Groundwater Resources-Conventional Parameters (IRWQIGC). In this study, samples were taken from 11 wells with three replications in February 2015 and water quality was assessed by evaluating nitrate, fecal coliform, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, total hardness, sodium absorption ratio, biological oxygen demand, phosphate, chemical oxygen demand, and dissolved oxygen parameters with the standard measuring methods; also, the quality of ground water was determined using the IRWQIGC. Statistical description of the parameters was performed using the SPSS software. Spatial extension mapping parameters were drawn using geostatistics extension with the ArcGIS software. The results of water quality assessment revealed that 0.15% of the area was classified as bad, 98.85% as relatively poor, and 1% as middle in terms of quality. The results of spatial dispersion also revealed that water quality from the South to the North and North East was reduced. Evaluating the changes in water quality near landfill sites showed that 2149.56 square meters of total area had a relatively poor potential for the region’s groundwater recharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study Hydrus-1D software was used to simulate electrical conductivity, pH and sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride and sulfate ions. Field experiments were performed at the Sugarcane Research Center located in south of Ahvaz on sugarcane varieties CP48-103 with four water treatments (one treatment was Karun river water and three treatments were diluted drainage water) and three replications. The samples were collected from 0-30, 30-60 and 60-90 cm soil depth before irrigation and electrical conductivity and anions and cations of soil were measured in the laboratory. Sensitivity analysis and calibration were first performed with the aim of verifying the Hydrus-1D software. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the software had maximum sensitivity to the saturated volumetric water content. Minimum sensitivity was for the inverse of the air-entry suction, tortuosity parameter, residual volumetric water contents and moderate sensitivity was for hydraulic conductivity at natural saturation. Also, the software did not show any sensitivity to empirical parameter related to the pore size distribution that is reflected in the slope of water retention curve. In calibration stage the amount of hydraulic conductivity at natural saturation, residual volumetric water contents, saturation volumetric water contents, the inverse of the air-entry suction, empirical parameter related to the pore size distribution and tortuosity were obtained as 18 (cm/day), 0.04 (cm3 /cm3 ), 0.63(cm3 /cm3 ), 0.012 (cm-1 ), 1.2 and 0.6 respectively. The results showed that the coefficient of determination of all parameters was more than 0.85 which confirms the appropriate capabilities of the model in simulation of electrical conductivity, pH, anions and cations. In the modeling carried out the amount of NRMSE was between 11 and 18 percent which indicates good performance of the model. The Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency criterion was obtained 0.72 to 0.8 that indicates a good match of the model with reality. The coefficient of residual mass in this paper was positive for electrical conductivity, pH and sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and negative for chloride and sulfate. The positive and negative coefficient of the residual mass shows less and over estimation of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to developing abstractions and their impacts on surface runoff, the recorded flow has been changed by human activities in most water gauging stations. Therefore, there is not found natural regime in the catchments. Accordingly, the objective of naturalization is to remove the effect of human activity factors and determine the actual amount of the river flow before the abstraction and the upstream development. Researchers have presented different methods that are mainly based on volume budget. In this way, this research presented the conventional methods as well as investigated their weak points. These new and innovative methods have been applied based on the available data. The methods have been planned based on the net consumption in which, the different types of water demands related to the upstream of each hydrometric station, are estimated for each month of a long-term series. Then, the amount of natural flow is determined by adding them to the observed flow. The accuracy and validation of the results are investigated by comparing the observed and calculated flow. As a case study, this method was utilized and implemented for Tireh and Marbareh sub-basins in Dez as well as Solgan and Beheshtabad sub-basins in the Karun basin. The results showed the role of the human activity factors decreasing the long-term outflow in the Tireh basin a 23.2%, in the Marbareh basin a 28.7%, in the Vanak watershed a 26%, and in the Beheshtabad basin a 9.5%. The results validation indicated the appropriate compatibility of the observational and estimated data for the control points (the stations). In this research, natural flow is obtained by presenting a practical method based on available information in the country. The proposed method has been in the preliminary stages. To verify and comprehend it, it should be used in future research on the interaction of surface and underground water and the use of new technologies such as remote sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity and water scarcity are limiting factors for sustainable agricultural production. The cultivation of resistant plants to environmental stresses is one of the important management factors for sustainable production. The objective of this study was to determine the water requirement and plant response coefficients to water deficit stress (Ky) in different growth stages under the Khuzestan province climate. This study was performed on the quinoa cultivar Titicaca in Ahvaz City in 2019 in a randomized complete block design with 13 treatments and three replications. Treatments include full irrigation and application of three levels of water deficit stress (30, 50, and 70% of allowable soil moisture depletion) at four different stages of plant growth. The duration of the initial, developmental, middle, and late growth stages of quinoa was 24, 28, 32, and 18 days, respectively (total growth period=102 days). The highest quinoa yield was obtained in full irrigation treatment (3700 kg ha-1 ) with a water requirement of 312 mm. Plant response coefficient to water deficit stress in the initial, developmental, middle, and late stages were 0.8, 0.65, 0.74, and 0.47, respectively. Although quinoa is a drought-resistance plant, it should be noted that the water stress in the two initial and middle stages (quinoa sensitive growth stages to water stress) reduces the quinoa yield significantly that should be considered in the planning of deficit irrigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought is a continuous period of lack of rainfall that leads to damage to a variety of water consumers, especially in the agricultural sector and reduces their yield. Drought is considered one of the unpredictable disasters. Drought is different from other natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, storms, etc. Based on the type of meteorological, hydrological, or agricultural droughts, various indices are designed to assess droughts such as SPI, PDSI, and SWSI. The objective of this study is to evaluate an integrated index that includes the main causes of drought. The integrated index includes various drought factors such as meteorological, hydrological, agricultural, socio-economic, and environmental. Isfahan province has been selected as a case study due to successive droughts in recent decades. A combination of static and dynamic layers has been used for designing the integrated index. Static layers include land use, slope, and soil type of the basin. Dynamic layers include precipitation, average temperature, available surface water, available groundwater, groundwater quality, and cultivated area. The results showed that the highest water stress occurred in the 1386 and 1391 years in the province and the lowest water stress and wet season in different parts of the province in 1387 and 1390 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of bed form in alluvial rivers due to sediment transport has a significant effect on the hydraulic parameters of the flow such as bed shear stress. The formation of the bed form and its shape and geometry depends on the bed shear stress. Therefore, the relationship between bed form and flow parameters (such as bed shear stress) is complicated. In the present study; the effect of dune bed forms with different heights on bed shear stress has been investigated. Artificial dunes made by sand-cement mortar with a length of 25 cm and heights of 1, 2, 3, and 4 cm were used. In the tests of this research, flow discharge of 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 l/s and bed slopes of 0, 0.0001, 0.0005, 0.001, and 0.0015 were used. The results showed that with increasing the relative submergence and Δ/λ, the bed shear stress increased in dune-covered beds. The formation of the dune bed form and the increase in its height leads to an increase in the bed shear stress. The bed shear stress in dunes with a height of 1, 2, 3, and 4 cm was, on average, 39, 80, 141, and 146% more than in plane beds, respectively. Moreover, form shear stress for dunes with a height of 1, 2, 3, and 4 cm was, on average, 27.37, 43, 57.11, and 58.74% of the total shear stress, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reservoir dams have had problems despite all the benefits for humans. one of the most important issues is exposing a large amount of water in contact with the air causing a large amount of water to evaporate. Using chemical methods including heavy alcohols is one of the evaporation suppression methods. In this study, three emulsions of octadecanol, hexadecanol, and a combination of octadecanol, and hexadecanol along with Brij-35 and two physical methods of the canopy and floating balls were used to evaluate the performance of different emulsions. A one-way analysis of variance was applied to compare the mean of evaporation in different chemical and physical methods and a two-way analysis of variance was performed to investigate the main and interaction effects of different meteorological parameters on the value of evaporation. The mean comparison of the evaporation in different methods showed that the two physical methods of the canopy and floating balls had better performance than the chemical methods, and the octadecanol was more efficient than the two other chemical methods. The results of one-way ANOVA showed that among the chemical methods, the octadecanol had no significant difference with floating balls at a 99% probability level (P <0.01). Twoway ANOVA indicated that air temperature and relative humidity had the greatest effect on evaporation. Examination of the effect of different levels of meteorological parameters on the performance of evaporation reduction methods showed that at low temperatures, octadecanol had poor performance than the two physical methods but with increasing temperature, its performance improved. In addition, this monolayer had a suitable performance at low wind speeds compared to physical methods. By increasing wind speed, its performance is severely affected and its efficiency decreases. So, at temperatures above 37° C, an increase in wind speed from 3.5 m/s to above 8.7 m/s has increased evaporation by more than 50%. The effects of monolayers and other evaporation suppression methods on the quality characteristics of the water including dissolved oxygen are significant and should be investigated in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in nutrient concentrations of soil can specify optimal management of manure and prevent environmental and water resources pollution. The present study was conducted with the objective of changing macronutrients concentrations of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium with amendments application of polyvinyl acetate, bean residual, and a combination of polyvinyl acetate + bean residual for time periods of one, two, and four months. The results showed that the application of soil amendments had various effects on changing Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. The maximum amount of Nitrogen related to the treatment of bean residual at the time period of four months before simulation (with a rate of 44.62 percent) and minimum amount of nitrogen related to Polyvinyl acetate treatment at the time period of one month (with a rate of -1.92 percent). The minimum rate of Phosphorus was measured at the treatment of bean residual at the time period of one month before simulation (with a rate of 0.95 percent). The maximum amount of Potassium related to the treatment of Polyvinyl acetate at the time period of four months before simulation (with a rate of 189.35 percent) and the minimum amount of Potassium related to the combination of bean residual + Polyvinyl acetate at the time period of one month after simulation (with a rate of 40.66 percent). Therefore, the application of amendments has various effects on changing soil macronutrients at different time periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planning and providing appropriate tools to reduce the adverse effects of natural hazards including floods is inevitable. Achieving the above goal depends on having sufficient and accurate knowledge and information about the vulnerability of different ecosystems (watersheds) to various destructive factors. Vulnerability assessment by identifying potential stresses and disturbances (natural and man-made) as well as estimating the sensitivity of watersheds allows for predicting the effects and selecting appropriate solutions for the sustainable management of these ecosystems. Therefore, this study has been designed to identify and rank vulnerable sub-watersheds to floods in the Ardabil plain, taking into account social, economic, infrastructural, and ecological dimensions. First, the indicators and criteria of each dimension were identified taking into account the conditions prevailing in Ardabil plain. Then, information and data on climatic, hydrological, demographic, economic, infrastructure, and land use were obtained from relevant authorities. Then, the mentioned criteria were standardized and the weight according to their importance was calculated based on the BWM method the data obtained from this stage were performed using the TOPSIS technique to rank flood vulnerability for different sub-watersheds in Ardabil plain for the period 2007-2017. Finally, a map of Ardabil's plain vulnerability to floods was prepared and presented. According to the results, the criteria of building density, rainfall, population density, and the unemployment rate were the most important criteria of vulnerability and among the studied dimensions, the infrastructure dimension is too significant in flood vulnerability in Ardabil plain. Based on the comprehensive vulnerability map, sub-watershed 7 in Ardabil plain was identified as the most vulnerable sub-watershed in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought is one of the most complex natural disasters due to its slow onset and long-term impact. Today, the use of remote sensing techniques and satellite imagery has been considered a useful tool for monitoring agricultural drought. The objective of the present study was to evaluate spatial and temporal monitoring of agricultural drought in the lake Urmia catchment area with the ETDI drought index which is calculated from Nova satellite images based on actual evapotranspiration from the SEBS algorithm and compared with the ground index SPI. For this purpose, 248 AVHRR sensor images and NOAA satellites during the statistical period of 1998-2000 and 17 meteorological stations with a statistical period of 30 years were used to calculate the indicators. To determine agricultural lands, six thousand points were marked for different uses and their actual evapotranspiration was calculated using the SEBS algorithm. The results showed that with the onset of the drought period in 1998, the ETDI index indicated 9.4% in weak drought conditions in May and 90.6% in normal conditions. Over time, in June of 1998, the situation was different with 95% in a weak drought situation and 5% in a normal situation for the city of Tabriz. In July, the entire catchment area experiences a slight drought. Then, in August, 84% of the basin is in normal condition and 16% in Tabriz and Urmia are declared weak drought. It was also founded that the ETDI drought index due to the combination of visible and infrared bands and its combination with terrestrial data has a physical meaning and has high certainty and predicts drought faster and more accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bed shear stress is one of the most important hydraulic parameters to determine the amount of bed and suspended load and the bed and bank scouring in rivers. Bed shear stress depends on bedforms (ripples, dunes, and anti-dunes) in alluvial rivers. In this study, the effect of artificial ripple bedforms on bed shear stress has been investigated. Two types of uniform granulation with average sizes (d50) of 0.51 and 2.18 mm were used to roughen the surface of the artificial ripples. The bedform length and height were 20 and 4 cm, respectively. The angles of its upstream and downstream to the horizon were selected equal to 16.4 and 32 degrees, respectively. Different flow rates (Q= 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 l/s) and different bed slopes (S= 0, 0.0001, 0.0005, 0.001, and 0.0015) were examined. The results showed that by increasing the particle size on the bed surface, total shear stress b (τb), grain-related bed-shear stress τb (τb ) τb, and form-related bed-shear stress b ( τb) τb increase. The value of τb, τb , and τb in bed form roughened by sediment size of 2.18 mm were, on average, 22.38, 30.86, and 22.3% more than the bed form roughened by sediment size of 0.51 mm, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the significant factors affecting biochar properties is the pyrolysis temperature. This study aimed to investigate the effect of pyrolysis temperature on the properties and fractionation of Zn and Pb in biochars produced by sewage sludge. Biochars were prepared at temperatures of 300 to 700 °C and the physicochemical properties, availability, and fractionation of Zn and Pb were investigated. The results showed that pH, pHzpc, percentage of calcium carbonate, cation exchange capacity, specific surface area, and porosity in biochars were higher than in the feedstock. By increasing biochar production temperature, the mentioned properties increased. FT-IR revealed that the OH functional group is present in free form, either in the structure of C-OH and -COOH and aliphatic-CH2 groups in the sewage sludge. By converting sewage sludge to biochar, the intensity of these peaks decreased. In contrast, peaks representing complex aromatic structures appeared. The availability of Zn and Pb in biochar was reduced as compared to sewage sludge. The results of fractionation indicated that sewage sludge has bio-availability and toxicity of Pb and Zn. the amount of oxide and residual fractions of these two metals increased by converting sewage sludge to biochar at different temperatures. Therefore, it seems that biochar production from sewage sludge reduces the toxicity and bioavailability of Zn and Pb. Also, by incrementing the temperature of production, the bio-availability potential (bonding with organic matter), and non-toxicity (residual) of these metals increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing crop production per unit volume of water consumption requires recognizing the most dependent variable in drip irrigation to the volume of water consumption and also identifying the most important variables independent of water productivity in surface and subsurface drip irrigation for optimal use of available water resources. The present research was carried out in Behbahan Agricultural Research Station during four cropping seasons (2013-2017) on a Kabkab date variety. Experimental treatments include the amount of water in the subsurface drip irrigation method based on two levels of 75% and 100% water requirement and in surface drip irrigation based on 100% water demand. Data were analyzed using a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results of the analysis of variance of the mean of different irrigation treatments in quantitative traits showed that the effect of irrigation was significant at the level of 1% in terms of cluster weight index, fruit weight, and fruit flesh to kernel weight ratio. The results of regression analysis of variance showed that in the dependent variable of cluster weight, the consumption water volume explained 19.1% (R2 = 0.191) of the fluctuations of the dependent variable (cluster weight). Among all the studied variables, the volume of water consumption explained the most significant changes in date cluster drying. Fruit moisture with t (2.096) and equivalent beta coefficient (0.046) had a significant positive effect on water productivity at the level of 5%. The results of the Pearson correlation coefficient showed that the effect of yield on changes in water productivity was much greater than the volume of water consumed so the yield caused significant changes in water productivity. While the effect of water consumption on water productivity was not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, a model was developed using a system dynamics approach to simulate and optimize the profitability of crops of the Jofeyr (Isargaran) Irrigation and Drainage Network located in Khuzestan Province. To validate the results, the statistical indicators of root mean square error (RMSE), standard error (SE), mean biased error (MBE), and determination coefficient (R²) were used. To validate the simulation results of the benefit-cost ratio, the values of these indicators were obtained 0.25, 0.19, 0.005, and 0.96, respectively. Then, to determine the optimal cultivated area of the network and increase the profitability, the cropping pattern was determined both non-stepwise and stepwise in 2013 to 2017 cropping years. In the non-stepwise, the cultivated area of each crop changed from zero to 2 times of current situation. In stepwise, due to social and cultural conditions of inhabitants, this change was slow and 10% of the current situation every year. The analysis of the results showed the success of the model in optimizing and achieving the desired goals and the total benefit-cost ratio increased in all years both non-stepwise and stepwise. For example, in 2017 compared to 2016, production costs decreased by 7.1 percent and sales prices increased by 5.8 percent, and increased the benefit-cost in 2017 compared to the previous year. The results showed that the present model has good accuracy in simulating and optimizing the irrigation network, its cropping pattern, and defining other scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]