ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCHES
Year:2021 | Volume:12 | Issue:23|Papers Count:21

Hur al Azim wetland is the largest wetland in Khuzestan province and one of the largest wetlands in Iran. The wetland is located on the border of Iran and Iraq and about one third of this wetland is in Iran and the rest in Iraq. Unfortunately, this wetland is drying up and being destroyed. In this study, daily meteorological information and statistics of Bostan station were used to investigate temperature change. Then these changes were examined using the SDSM downscalling model. The measured variables were mean temperature. First, the efficiency of SDSM model was evaluated using by the mean temperature of Bostan station as a representative of Hur al Azim wetland and then, the mean temperature of Bostan station up to 2100 was simulated. Based on the obtained results, the mean annual observed and simulated temperature data were 18. 16 °, C and 19. 35 °, C, respectively. Also, the standard deviation of mean temperature was obtained 0. 098 °, C. After ensuring the accuracy of the model in temperature simulation in the base period, the average temperature of Bostan station was simulated using HADCM3 model data for the coming decades. The results show an increase in the average temperature of Bostan station until 2100. The results showed that the rate of temperature increase according to scenario A2 is more than scenario B2. The results of this study also showed that the model has the ability to simulate the temperature in this station.

Land surface temperature (LST) is considered as an important variable in the study of microclimate and radiation transmission in the atmosphere, which shows the environmental factors affecting land cover patterns using the temperature variable. In this study, thermal band images of Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 satellites have been used to estimate the surface temperature of Bojnourd plain. Initially, the processes of geometric and atmospheric correction, calculation of vegetation index, land emission index, water vapor in the air and atmospheric temperature were performed based on Kelvin. Then, using QGIS software, ground surface temperature estimation is obtained using Planck algorithm, single window algorithm and single channel algorithm. The results show that the areas with vegetation have the lowest temperature and the highest amount of temperature in areas without vegetation and barren lands. Comparison of the temperature of the nearest cell with the temperature of Bojnourd synoptic station and Asadli evaporating station and Grivan station shows that the temperature obtained through the models used is higher than the temperature measured in the stations and shows a comparison of the maps. The highest temperature of the warm period has been recorded in the barren lands of Bojnourd suburbs. Also, based on the mean square error (RMSE), (MAD) and (NS) among the studied algorithms, the temperature obtained from the single channel algorithm shows less difference than the temperature of the existing stations.

Evaluating the effects of development as an important and efficient management tool is at the disposal of planners to identify the potential environmental effects of a development plan and suggest effective options to eliminate or reduce its negative effects. One of the ways to improve the assessment of environmental impacts according to the conditions of our country is to improve the matrix method. To do this, a mathematical matrix is used and by using large factors, scope and duration of the effect, cumulative and cumulative effects, qualitative variables and compensatory factors of the effect and disagreement, constructive interaction between developers and evaluators is provided. More comprehensive results are obtained. Due to the time constraints in evaluating the effects and the need to make the right decisions and to make the results of the mathematical matrix more understandable, a decision support system was considered. The decision support system is a system that uses human resources and computer capabilities to help solve complex problems improves the quality of the decision and has direct interaction with the user,which Increases efficiency and can help improve learning and the ability to use them by experts and beginners. Excel software programming environment, macro writing, pivot tables and cell functions were used to prepare the initial decision support system. This system was designed in such a way that the project activities and the affected parameters are placed in two adjacent columns instead of in rows and columns. And only the mathematical method is used to evaluate the effects. Activities related to eighteen development projects subject to environmental impact assessment were added to the system. The use of Excel and its programming environment greatly contributed to the flexibility of this system. Using the features and tools of Excel, the evaluation results can be seen in the form of graphs and tables, and based on them, the decision-making process regarding the development plan will be greatly facilitated.

Dams have a great deal of positive and negative effects on the environment besides their benefits like controlling stream regimes, and generating energy. In this study the environmental impact of dams being built in the Khuzestan province were evaluated on the basis of a multi-criteria decision-making method. To assess the environmental impact of the dam in this model four main criteria of physical-chemical, ecological, socio-economic, cultural and fifteen sub criteria were used. At the end, Electre III method also was used to rank the alternatives. The results indicated that according to experts opinions physical-chemical criterion with weight of 0. 439 has greatest impact on the assessment process. The ecological, socioeconomic and cultural criteria rank next in effectiveness with weights of 0. 241, 0. 227 and 0. 093 respectively. Also decreasing surface water quality has the highest weight among the sub-criteria. Finally the results also showed that the Shirinab and Kheyrabad dam have highest environmental impact in Khuzestan province.

Recreational use of the area must be performed conforms to its ecological capability. Therefore, this study was carried out with the aim of providing a method for modelling and ranking the areas with ecotourism capability. For this purpose, Makhdoum systemic method, regarding to the region specifications, and multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network (MLP) were used to evaluate the ecological capability of Arasbaran protected area. At first, ecological and socio-economic resources were identified and maps of them were provided. Then, ecotourism capability map was prepared by analyzing and overlaying of data in ArcGIS. In the next step, using the results of the systemic method, neural network was trained and its various structures were evaluated. Finally, map of the suitable tourism areas was modeled based on neural network output. In the end, using the socio-economic criteria and recreational attractions, prioritize and final evaluation was performed. Regarding to the systemic analysis, the area has the capability for intensive recreation class-2 (0. 06%), and extensive recreation class-2 (10. 33%). Topology 7-9-3 was selected as the best classifier with an overall accuracy of 98% for recreational regions classification. The best and the lowest of neural network application were shown to belong to intensive recreation class, and extensive recreation class, respectively. Based on modeled map, 0. 17%, 10. 09%, and 89. 74% of the area were shown to belong to intensive recreation-class 2, extensive recreation-class 2, and unsuitable for recreation, respectively. This study showed artificial neural network has potential for classification of the suitable tourism areas with high accuracy.

The Structural Detection of Spatial-Temporal Changes in Zagros Biome of Iran Using Landscape Ecology PrinciplesIt is important to know the process of changing the patterns of content composition and spatial configuration of the landscape structure of biomes, in order to optimally manage them over time. In this study, in accordance with the conceptual model of the principles of landscape ecology, including: structure, function and change, changes in the spatial configuration of the elements of Zagros Biome of Iran was studied by studying 26 catchment basins leading to Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad Province. The TM and OLI /TIRS images of Landsat 5 and 8 satellites were pre-processed for 1987-2017, appropriate bands were selected using the principal component analysis test and land-use classification was performed using two methods of maximum probability (MLE) and Perceptron Artificial Neural Network (MLP) with 7 input, 6 intermediate and 5 output layers. Classified land-use of MLP method was selected according to the resolution of features and greater accuracy and temporal-spatial identification of changes was performed. The results show that between 2017 and 1987 the highest rate of land reduction is seen in forest land-use and the highest rate of land increase is seen in pasture land-use. Landscape sustainability management based on landscape ecology principles in relations between structure, function and change can be used.

Paying attention to the landscape values will increase the credibility and value of its walking tracks. Regarding the importance of walking tracks in creating the sense of tranquility, security, and beauty for human beings, it is essential to preserve and improve the scenic beauty and quality of these routes. Recognition of effective criteria on landscape values is one of the important factors in tourist attraction that might lead to economic development of the region. Ziarat watershed basin with its beautiful landscapes is one of the most famous tourist destinations of Golestan province. The purpose of this study is to determine the most important criteria for selecting and prioritizing the routes which has been done using a questionnaire survey and principle components analysis method. The questionnaire was distributed among 388 visitors of the study area and the results were analyzed using SPSS software. The results showed that among 22 surveyed criteria in this study, 6 criteria including route length, diversity of vegetation density, cleanliness, texture diversity, directional signs and shape of the route (direct trails or complex trails) are more important criteria for visitors. The results of this research could be used to improve the route landscapes and their quality, attract more tourists, and provide a framework for selecting and classifying the routes.

There are various methods for estimating Co2 accumulation and assessing the spatial structure. This research aimed to estimate the aboveground Co2 accumulation in two stands of Carpinmus betulus and Juniperus foetidissima in Arasbaran forests, and the effect of physiographical factors such as slope, aspect and altitude on it. Furthermore the spatial distribution of Co2 accumulation was obtained based on geostatistical approach in two mentioned stands. The results showed that the average of Co2 accumulation for hornbeam and juniper stands was 358589. 47 and 9992. 59 kg /ha respectively, which there was a significant difference between them at the level of P ≤,0. 05. Whereas there wasn’, t any significant differences between physiographical variations and Co2 rate in two stands. In addition, the experimental variogram was fitted for two stands that hornbeam and juniper with 91% and 99% indicated the strong spatial structure respectively. So, the distribution map of Co2 accumulation was obtained for the area. Cross-validation of the models revealed that the RMSE for hornbeam and juniper was 0. 308 and 0. 334 kg /ha respectively which proved precise estimation and acceptable models due to the strong spatial structure and low nugget effect. Considering the importance of climate change, we can improve Arasbaran forests reclamation regarding carbon sequestration by taking into account the carbon sequestration potential of different species and the physiographical factors affecting the carbon sequestration.

Human activities are one of the factors that have a significant impact on the land use change patterns, and these changes are in most cases inconsistent with the environment. Therefore, land-use prediction models for sustainable land-use planning are a requirement. In this research, using the Cellular Automata Markov Chain model, modeling of land use change for the Gharehsou basin has been improved to predict the future. Promotion of the Markov chain model has been done by entering the population growth rate and per capita requirements of each land use in the model. Validation of the upgraded model by comparing the map of the predicted land use change for 2014 and the results of the upgraded model have been reviewed. The results of the comparison of these two maps showed that the results of the upgraded model were much more similar to the current situation since the population growth rate and, consequently, per capita needed for urban development are the most important driving force to disrupt the ratio of changes in a timely trend. Therefore, considering this factor in the Markov chain model more flexibility and great results closer to reality, which is practical in the Gharehsou basin. Finally, the upgraded CA-Markov chain model was used to predict the 2030 basin.

Investigating the Rivers Role in the Gorgan Bay Possible Future After Separation From the Caspian Sea In this research, the probable future of the Gorgan Bay after separation from the Caspian Sea under five scenarios is examined using Mike 21 model. In the first scenario, the bay was studied under the influence of the prevailing climate on it. In the second scenario, the bay was studied under the influence of the climate and river inputs. In the next three scenarios, bay was assessed under the influence of climate and rivers environmental minimum requirements according to Tennant (1976) suggestions. The modeling results under the first scenario showed that, 551 days after the separation of the bay from the Sea, the bay would be dwarfed by the climate conditions. Modeling results under the second scenario showed that bay after 1110 days, it becomes a wetland with a minimum area of 51 km2. Modeling results under the third, fourth and fifth scenarios showed that the bay after 653, 665 and 1015 days into a wetland with a minimum area of 7, 12 and 32 km2 respectively. So long as the Gorgan Bay be connected to the mother sea determining the biological water right from rivers leading to it will not help to increasing the water level and prevent dryness of the bay. However, after separating the bay from the mother sea water supply through rivers will have a significant impact on the formation of wetland. The northern and western prevailing winds have a greatest impact on increasing of the bay area in the northeast part and temporary wetlands creating under presumed scenarios due to the formation of stormsurg. If the bay does not communicate with the sea and does not provide water right supplies of rivers, ecological successions in the Gorgan bay will be disclimax.

Given the importance of strategic environmental assessment in development policy documents The purpose of this research is to screen development policies in Kermanshah county And providing a model is a combination of principles and criteria of sustainability. The research approach is applied And focuses on analytical methods of strategic environmental assessment and AHP hierarchical analysis. In this process, 9 policies were extracted from the content analysis of the above-mentioned plans of Kermanshah county Screening and analysis of principles and criteria in the form of a questionnaire was performed on 18 experts and thinkers related to development and environmental issues in Kermanshah county Which were selected by snowball sampling method, were done for weighting and evaluation. Findings after the screening phase showed that Large and heavy industry development policy (refineries and petrochemicals) is a priority for strategic environmental assessment. The results of the principles and criteria were analyzed by Choice Expert software And principles and criteria of local and self-sufficient economic development with a final weight of 1. 040 And determination of lands based on ecological capability with a final weight of 0. 862 Has the highest score And decentralization of the office structure with a final weight of 0. 009 has the lowest score. Although the adoption of this policy has led to the relative development of Kermanshah county And according to the results of strategic environmental assessment, research, although socially, economically, institutionally important And has effects and consequences on economic development However, the effects and consequences of not paying attention to environmental considerations and the ecological potential of large industrial areas in the long run lead to a decrease in social, economic and institutional effects.

In recent decades, urban green structure approach has been aimed at increasing the environmental and identity problems of new textures in order to help reestablish integrated urban structure to solve environmental problems. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the elements of urban green structure in the traditional and new texture of Shahreza city (in Isfahan) and compare them to create an integrated urban structure throughout the city. This research is applied and descriptive-analytical research based on studying case studies, which first studied the literature review of documents and researches through content analysis method, to explain the theoretical framework of patterns and elements of green structure in Traditional and new texture if cities, and then two traditional and new textures of Shahreza are studied as a comparative study based on theoretical framework components. The findings of this study indicate that Shahreza possesses both micro and macro elements of urban green structure in both traditional and new texture. In the traditional texture, the green spots are the green spaces inside the houses,the green corridors are Madis (water canals),and the green hubs are private gardens. In the new texture, the green spots are the local green spaces,the green corridors are urban Boulevard,and the green hubs are public parks. The result shows the importance of considering urban green structure in integrating correctly with urban form and main urban structure, to provide the possibility of traditional and new textures transplantation and integrated and efficient structure to the city.

Water pollution with oil compounds is one of the most important environmental issues in oil-rich countries, as it can have adverse effects on human health and the environment. It is absolutely essential to use optimized and efficient methods for treatment of oil-containing wastes. There are several strategies to remove oil pollution and its derivatives. In this research, rice's peel adsorbent was used as an organic adsorbent to remove oil pollution from wastewater. Initially, the chemical composition of rice peel was determined with using FT-IR analysis, then adsorption tests were conducted discontinuously using laboratory solutions containing oil to determine optimum adsorption conditions by adjustment of effective factors such as pH, initial concentration, exposure time, and adsorbent amount, and the amount of oil adsorption was determined using weight method. Ultimately, the use of adsorbent for laboratory wastewater was studied. The highest adsorbent efficiency was observed for absorbing oil during 15 minutes, which had a significant difference with other contact time (79. 77% absorption, P <0. 05) and the lowest value by difference significance was observed in 3 minutes (65. 93% absorption). The highest amount of adsorption by rice peeling was observed at pH = 5 and pH = 3, which did not show significant differences with other pHs (76. 57% and 75. 34%, respectively, P < 0. 05) and the lowest adsorption was observed at pH = 9, which had no significant difference with other pH (58. 93%, P <0. 05). The effect of rice peel absorbent values in 1. 5 g/l was significantly higher than other amount of adsorbents (84. 1% absorption, P <0. 05) and the lowest percentage of adsorption was significantly different from other values in 0. 25 g / liter was observed (62. 58%,05. 05 P). Isotherm fitting of surface adsorption showed that oil adsorption by rice peel follows the Freudlich model (R2 = 0. 98). Therefore, it can be concluded that rice peel adsorbent has a high efficiency in adsorbing oil from wastewater and can be used in the treatment of industrial wastewater.

Today, air pollution in oilfield and refinery areas and around it is one of the major challenges that unfortunately creates important problems for the residents of the region. In the present study, to determine the relationship and correlation between NO2 emissions from the flare of Syraf gas condensate refinery and heavy metals in the soil. The emission rate of this pollutant was calculated using the proposed emission factors by the US Environmental Protection Agency 1. 0417g/s and the air modeling was done using AERMOD software. The most dispersion of NO2 is based on the wind direction from the west to the east. Sampling results from soil at 6 points around the site were compared with the standards of the Environmental Protection Agency for soil and it was found the lead metal content was higher than the standard. one-way ANOVA and Duncan's multiple domain test used in Spss software, the highest lead dispersion due to the distribution of more pollutant sources such as 19, 12, 14 phases, as well as the LNG site and the Aram Cement Factory located in the western part of the site, is related to this area of the site. The correlation between heavy metals and NO2 pollutants showed that there was a positive and significant correlation between this pollutant and lead metal in soil surface, Because of the Nitrite and Nitrate anionic compounds in the soil, these compounds form salt with the adsorption of lead metal.

Oil silt dissemination occurs in aquatic environments owing to chemical, physical, and biological processes that depend on the oil, hydrodynamic, meteorological, and environmental properties. Oil silts are disseminated because of currents, waves, and wind effects. The extant study was conducted on Arvandroud due to the existence of Abadan Oil Refinery, and ports of Abadan, Khorramshahr, and Basrah. To do so, MIKE 21 model was employed. This numerical model was developed based on the Eulerian method, in which the continuity and momentum equations (in-depth averaged Navier–, Stokes equations) were employed. After the calibration step, the model results were compared with the field measurements, and findings indicated an accurate model prediction of water surface fluctuations, current speed and direction. Hydrodynamic module output was applied to the oil spill's analysis module to simulate the oil dissemination pattern. The oil spill's analysis module employed Lagrangian particles to anticipate the concentration and thickness of oil silt. In the next step, three spatial scenarios were designed and implemented to find the effect of the aforementioned environmental factors on oil pollution dissemination. According to the results of modeling, if pollution occurs at the beginning of tides for three hours in front of Abadan Oil Refinery and Khosrowabad, while the average debit (discharge) of river equals 480m3/s, pollution reaches the Persian Gulf after 124 and 85. 5 hours, respectively.

One of the most common methods for removing pollutants from aqueous solutions is adsorption. Currently, research on cheap adsorbents with high potential for removing pollutants is economically important. In this study, the efficiency of nano-chitosan was investigated for toluene removal from aqueous solutions by adsorption method in a laboratory scale. The effect of different pH parameters, initial concentrations of toluene, absorbent dose and contact time were investigated. Toluene concentration values were analyzed by UV-Vis Array spectrophotometer Model Photonix Ar 2015 at 206 nm. The results showed that the amount of toluene adsorption increased with increasing pH, increasing the dose of adsorbent and increasing the contact time by inverse ratio and increasing the concentration of direct ratio. According to the results, the optimal amount of toluene adsorption at pH=5, concentration of 70 mg /L, absorbent dose of 0. 01 g L, and contact time of 5 minutes were determined. The results of this study showed that nano-chitosan adsorbent has high efficiency in toluene adsorption from aqueous solutions.

Rivers and water resources polloution caused by uncontrolled industrial wastewater discharge. Precence of high concentration of phosphate ' sulfate and nitrate anions in sugarcane indusrial wastewater ' required treatment of the waste water for nutrients and corrosive substances deletion. This study is an attempt to investigate the effect of electrical current' initial wastewater PH and retention time on phosphate ' sulfate and nitrate pollutants removal of sugarcane industrial wastewater. In this study ' the electro coagulation method with aluminum electodes were applied for wastewater treatment in sugar cane of Hakim Farabi. 6 electrodes –,aluminium in vertical position were connected to power supply by monopolar method. Septic tank was selected for sampling. Initial wastewater concentration and PH were measured for phosphate' sulfate and nitrate. Then the effect of three operation parameters: PH(5' 7' 9' 11) electrical potential (10 and 30 volts) and retention time (15' 30' 45' 60 minutes) for phosphate ' sulfate and nitrate removal efficiency have been investigated. The results showed that in equal retention time and different initial PH the removal of phosphate' sulfate and nitrate could be promoted by increasing the electrical potential from 10 volt to 30 volt. . The results indicated that the highest removal efficiency of phosphate was observed in neutral condition and increasing PH decreases phosphate removal. whereas the highest removal efficiency for sulfate and nitrate was observed in alkaline PH. also the results proved that in all condition of PH and voltage' increasing retention time cause increasing in removal percent for phosphate' sulfate and nitrate.

In the present era, marketing based on some environmental and social considerations is raised as one of the most important activity of goods and services production companies, and one of the areas of marketing discussed in environmental issues is green marketing. The purpose of this study is to develop a structural model for investigating the relationship between market orientation and environmental performance and green supply chain management solution. The given article has been conducted on descriptive statistics as a survey, and the target population of this study was based on Khales Sazan’, s managers and employees in Zanjan. The data were collected via a questionnaire and through random stratified sampling was distributed among 215 employees and managers of the different levels of the company. In this research, the modeling of structural equations and partial least squares (PLS) were used to test the hypothesis and fit the model. The results showed that market orientation was effective on the supply chain management strategies. But its impact on environmental performance was rejected. On the other hand, the indirect effect of market orientation has been confirmed through the intermediate variable of supply chain management strategies. Finally, it was revealed that supply chain management strategies have a positive and significant effect on environmental performance.

Flood is a natural phenomenon of serious environmental challenges the country that many factors are involved in the event. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify, weight and prioritize effective criteria and indicators for flood damage reduction in Iran using the opinion of experts and experts in this field and faculty members in this field. In this regard, a researcher-made questionnaire to identify effective and important criteria to reduce flood damage from four ecological, economic, technical and social perspectives and entropy technique to calculate their weight and preferences technique. Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) has been used to prioritize criteria and andicators. Analyzing the findings of the study by completing 30 questionnaires, 21 indicators from ecological, economic, social and technical aspects to reduce flood damage identified that it included 7 ecological indicators, 6 economic indicators, 5 technical indicators and 3 social indicators. The results of weighting of the indicators using entropy technique showed that from the ecological point of view the landform (the elevation above sea level, slope variation and aspect) indicator with weight (0. 04779), from the economic point of view, the forest and rengeland optimal management indicator with weight (0. 04780), from of the technical point of view, watershed management indicator with weight (0. 04774) and socially from residential density indicator (settlements, population indices) with weight (0. 04768) respectively, the highest weight among the other indicators are dedicated to themselves. Also the results of the prioritization of the criteria using TOPSIS technique showed that the ecological, economic, technical and social criteria had the highest priority in the reduction of flood damage respectively. Therefore, it is suggested to pay more attention to the role and importance of ecological, economic, technical and social criteria and indicators based on thire priorities in management programin of reduction flood.

Due to the significant growth and development of industries in Iran, including mines, oil and gas, and agriculture, in proportion to increasing production, the country is now faced with a large volume of industrial, mineral, and hazardous waste. The improper management of hazardous wastes affects the basic resources of the environment, water, soil, and air, and cause environmental pollution. The present research will be addressed the legal challenges of implementing waste management regulations in Iran, detected the problems with the existing regulations, examine the opportunities and threats, and identified the legal gaps and It’, s weaknesses in order to propose the required amendments to the Waste Management Act, its bylaw, and other legal and managerial actions. In this research, current status of waste management in the country was first identified, evaluated, and analyzed. A supplementary the supplementary survey was then completed by experts and managers, the data were normalized, and the QSPM model was adopted to identify the superior strategies and approaches according to a SWOT analysis. The results demonstrated that the most important waste management problems included the incomplete implementation of the duties entrusted by the Act to most of the responsible organizations and institutions,the managers’,low level of knowledge, awareness, and competence in making the necessary decisions,legal gaps and the lack of legal enforcement guarantees,the low levels of punishment and penalties provisioned in the Act against the offenders,and failing to exploit the private sector’, s investment capacity for waste organization and management.