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Assessing the impacts of climate and land use change on streamflow, water quality and suspended sediment in the Kor River Basin, Southwest of Iran

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Abstract

This research addressed the separate and combined impacts of climate and land use change on streamflow, suspended sediment and water quality in the Kor River Basin, Southwest of Iran, using (BASINS–WinHSPF) model. The model was calibrated and validated for hydrology, sediment and water quality for the period 2003–2012. The model was run under two climate changes, two land use changes and four combined change scenarios for near-future period (2020–2049). The results revealed that projected climate change impacts include an increase in streamflow (maximum increases of 52% under RCP 2.6 in December and 170% under RCP 8.5). Projected sediment concentrations under climate change scenarios showed a monthly average decrease of 10%. For land use change scenarios, agricultural development scenario indicated an opposite direction of changes in orthophosphate (increases in all months with an average increase of 6% under agricultural development scenario), leading to the conclusion that land use change is the dominant factor in nutrient concentration changes. Combined impacts results indicated that streamflows in late fall and winter months increased while in summer and early fall decreased. Suspended sediment and orthophosphate concentrations were decreased in all months except for increases in suspended sediment concentrations in September and October and orthophosphate concentrations in late winter and early spring due to the impact of land use change scenarios.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shiraz University, Zand Street, Shiraz, Fars, Iran

    Amir Asadi Vaighan & Nasser Talebbeydokhti

  2. Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, College of Abouraihan, University of Tehran, Pakdasht, Iran

    Alireza Massah Bavani

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  1. Amir Asadi Vaighan
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  2. Nasser Talebbeydokhti
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  3. Alireza Massah Bavani
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Correspondence to Amir Asadi Vaighan.

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Vaighan, A.A., Talebbeydokhti, N. & Bavani, A.M. Assessing the impacts of climate and land use change on streamflow, water quality and suspended sediment in the Kor River Basin, Southwest of Iran. Environ Earth Sci 76, 543 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-6880-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-6880-6

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