Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The impact of environmental degradation and climate change on dust in Khuzestan province, Iran

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Natural Hazards Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Human activities and climate change have resulted in environmental degradation and increased environmental hazards globally. In Khuzestan province, such hazards have included droughts, heat waves, and dust storms occurring more frequently. To understand the factors contributing to the dust storms, this study evaluated changes in rainfall, air temperature maximum and minimum, and soil temperature (1985–2019), as well as land cover, land surface temperature, and water bodies in 2017 (drought) and 2019 (wet year). The findings of the principal component analysis indicate a reduction in annual water bodies, spring vegetation, and water bodies in the spring, summer, and autumn seasons. The increase in air and land surface temperature accounts for 95% of the variance in dust in the Khuzestan province. Field surveys suggest that various human activities such as hydro dam building, crude oil drilling, extracting crude oil wells in lagoons, changes in farmland use, and water transfer among water basins have intensified the phenomena in the region under study. To manage this critical issue more effectively, it is recommended to review and assess local policies regarding regional ecology and establish cooperative agreements with regional countries such as Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia which all experience similar natural disasters.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17

Similar content being viewed by others

Research Data Policy and Data Availability Statements

The authors declare that data supporting the findings of this study are available and were cited within the article. Data are available and provided to the journal whenever needed.

References

  • Aghaei A, Eslamian S, Dalezios NR, Saeidi-Rizi A, Bahredar S (2017) Drought and dust management. In: Handbook of drought and water scarcity, pp 699–728. CRC Press

  • Al-Hemoud A, Al-Dousari A, Al-Dashti H, Petrov P, Al-Saleh A, Al-Khafaji S, Behbehani W, Li J, Koutrakis P (2020) (2020), Sand and dust storm trajectories from Iraq Mesopotamian flood plain. Sci Total Environ 710:136291

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • -Alijani B (2012) Climatology of Iran, Payam Noor University, Tehran, p 15–45

  • -Alizadeh A (2013) Applied hydrology. Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, p 30

  • Alizadeh-Choobari O, Ghafarian P, Owlad E (2016) Temporal variations in the frequency and concentration of dust events over Iran based on surface observations: climatology of dust events over Iran. Int J Climatol 36:2050–2062

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • -Amarloei A, JonidiJafari A, AsilianMohabadi H, Asadollahi K (2014) The evaluation of PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 concentration during dust storm events in Ilam city, from Mar 2013 through. 22 (4):240–259.

  • Arvin A, Cheraghi S, Cheraghi S (2013) Evaluation of dust effect on the quantitative and qualitative growth of sugarcane varieties. CP57-614. Phys Geo Res Q. 3:95–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Baghbanan P, Ghavidel Y, Farajzadeh M (2020) Spatial analysis of spring dust storms hazard in Iran. Theoret Appl Climatol 139:1447–1457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baghbanan P, Ghavidel Y, Farajzadeh M (2021) Spatial analysis of the temporal long-term variations in frequency of dust storm days in Iran. Pure Appl Geophys 178(10):4181–4194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • -Baltaci H (2021) Meteorological characteristics of dust storm events in Turkey. Aeolian Res, 100673.

  • Bayat R, Jafari S, Ghermezcheshmeh B, Charkhabi AH (2016) Studying the effect of dust on vegetation changes (Case study: Shadegan wetland, Khuzestan). J RS and GIS Nat Resour 23:17–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Bidak LM, Kamal SA, Halmy MWA, Heneidy SZ (2015) Goods and services provided by native plants in desert ecosystems: Examples from the northwestern coastal desert of Egypt. Glob Ecol Conserv 3:433–447

    Google Scholar 

  • Emamian A, Rashki A, Kaskaoutis DG, Gholami A, Opp C, Middleton N (2021) Assessing vegetation restoration potential under different land uses and climatic classes in Northeast Iran. Ecol Indic 122:107325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engelstaedter S, Tegen I, Washington R (2006) North African dust emissions and transport. Earth-Sci Rev 79:73–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gholami H, Mohamadifar A, Collins AL (2020a) (2020), Spatial mapping of the provenance of storm dust: application of data mining and ensemble modelling. Atmos Res 233:104716

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gholami H, Rahimi S, Fathabadi A, Habibi S, Collins AL (2020b) Mapping the spatial sources of atmospheric dust using GLUE and Monte Carlo simulation. Sci Total Environ 723:138090

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ginoux P, Prospero JM, Gill TE, N., Hsu, C, Zhao, M, et al (2012) Global-scale attribution of anthropogenic and natural dust sources and their emission rates based on MODIS deep blue aerosol products. Rev Geophys. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012RG000388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodarzi M, Hoseini A, Ahmadi H (2018) Assessing temporal and spatial distribution of dust storm in the south and south west of Iran. Iran-Watershed Manage Sci Eng 11(39):1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Hejazi SJ, Sharifi A, Arvin M (2022) Assessment of social vulnerability in areas exposed to multiple hazards: a case study of the Khuzestan Province Iran. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 78:103127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hossein Hamzeh N, Kaskaoutis D, Rashki.A, and Mohammadpour.K, (2021) Long-term variability of dust events in Southwestern Iran and its relationship with the drought. Atmosphere 2021(12):1350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Javan Kh, Teimouri M (2019) Spatial analysis of occurrence probability of dusty days in west and southwest of Iran. Arab J Geosci 12:477

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khavarian-Garmsir AR, Pourahmad A, Hataminejad H, Farhoodi R (2019) Climate change and environmental degradation and the drivers of migration in the context of shrinking cities a case study of Khuzestan province. Iran Sust Cities Soc 47:101480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kok JF, Adebiyi AA, Albani S, Balkanski Y, Checa-Garcia R, Chin M, Colarco PR, Hamilton DS, Huang Y, Ito A et al (2021) Contribution of the world’s main dust source regions to the global cycle of desert dust. Atmos Chem Phys 21:8169–8193

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koohizadeh M, Akhoond-Ali AM, Arsham A (2021) The effect of soil moisture levels on the threshold velocity of wind erosion in dust centers of south and southeast of Khuzestan Province-Ahwaz. Iran J Soil Water Res

  • Koutroulis AG (2019) Dryland changes under different levels of global warming. Sci Total Environ 655:482–551

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lachatre M, Foret F, Laurent B, Siour G, Cuesta J et al (2020) Air quality degradation by mineral dust over Beijing Chengdu and Shanghai Chinese megacities. Atmosphere 11:708

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Y, Guangpeng W, Ziying H, Peijum Sh, Yanli L et al (2020) Dust storm susceptibility on different land surface types in arid and semi-arid regions of Northern Chian. Atmos Res 243:105031

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maestre FT et al (2015) Increasing aridity reduces soil microbial diversity and abundance in global drylands. Proc Natl Acad Sci 112(51):15684–15689

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mahmoodabadi M, Rajabpour H (2017) Study on the effect of initial soil moisture content on wind erosion rate using a laboratory wind tunnel. J Water Soil Conserv 24(2):167–183

    Google Scholar 

  • Malaki T, Sahraie M, Sasani F, Shahmoradi M (2017) Impact of dust storm on agricultural production in Iran. Int J Agric Sci Res Technol Ext Edu Syst 7(1):19–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Mann HB (1945) Non-parametric test against trend. Econometric 13:245259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Middleton NJ (2017) Desert dust hazards: a global review. Aeolian Res 24:53–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Middleton N (2019) Variability and trends in dust storm frequency on decadal timescales: climatic drivers and human impacts. Geosciences 9(6):261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mirzabaev A, Stringer L (2022) Deserts, semiarid areas and desertification, Cross-Chapter Paper 3, AR6, IPCC

  • Norouzi M, Ansari M, Moazami N, Asgharipour Dasht B (2019) Land use changes in dust sources of South and South-East Ahwaz. JWSS 23(3):341–354

    Google Scholar 

  • Painter TH, Deems J, Belnap J, Udall B (2010) Response of Colorado River runoff to dust radiative forcing in snow. Proc Natl Acad Sci 107(40):17125–17130

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pettitt AN (1979) A non-parametric approach to the change-point problem. Appl Stat 28(2):126–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prăvălie R (2016) Drylands extent and environmental issues. A Global Approach Earth Sci Rev 161:259–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ravi S, Odorico P, Over TO, Zobeck TM (2004) On the effect of air humidity on soil susceptibility to wind erosion: The case of air-dry soils. Geophys Res Lett 31:L09501

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahsavani A, Yarahmadi M, JafarzadeHaghighifard N, Naimabadie A, Mahmoudian M, Saki H (2013) Dust storms environmental and health impacts. J North Khorasan Univ Med Sci 2(4):45–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanelle T, Isabelle B, Thomas R, Christian R, Ina T (2014) Anthropogenically induced changes in twentieth century mineral dust burden and the associated impact on radiative forcing. J Geophys Res Atmos 119(23):13, 526–513, 546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Y, Wen B, Li Sh, Guo Y (2021) Sand and dust storms in Asia: a call for global cooperation on climate change. Lancet Planet Health 5(6):e329–e330

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Hidouck Vartevan for her assistance throughout all the aspects of this study and for her help in writing the manuscript.

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Iran Water Resources Management Company (IWRMC) for giving data and The Vice Chancellor for Research and Technology in the University of Isfahan for the financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Geographical Sciences and Planning, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

    Zahra Mohammadi, Dariush Rahimi & Reza Zakerinejad

  2. Hydroclimate Extremes and Climate Change Lab, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Western University, London, Canada

    Mohammad Reza Najafi

Authors
  1. Zahra Mohammadi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dariush Rahimi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mohammad Reza Najafi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Reza Zakerinejad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

DR contributed to the study’s conception and design. ZM performed material preparation, data collection, and analysis. ZM and DR wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and MRN and RZ commented on the previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dariush Rahimi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Consent to participate

The data of this research were not prepared through a questionnaire.

Consent for publication

There is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article. The authors of the article make sure that everyone agrees to submit the article and is aware of the submission.

Ethical approval

Not applicable, because this article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mohammadi, Z., Rahimi, D., Najafi, M.R. et al. The impact of environmental degradation and climate change on dust in Khuzestan province, Iran. Nat Hazards 120, 4329–4348 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-023-06368-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-023-06368-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation