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

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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.

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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
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  2. Dariush Rahimi
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  3. Mohammad Reza Najafi
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  4. Reza Zakerinejad
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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.

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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.

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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

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