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Journal of Arid Land
Journal of Arid Land  2020, Vol. 12 Issue (4): 690-700    DOI: 10.1007/s40333-020-0018-5
Research article     
Impacts of wind erosion and seasonal changes on soil carbon dioxide emission in southwestern Iran
KAMALI Nadia1, SIROOSI Hamid2, SADEGHIPOUR Ahmad3,*()
1 Rangeland Research Division, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran 13185116, Iran
2 Rangeland Sciences, Gorgan University of Agricultural Researches and Natural Resources, Gorgan 4918943464, Iran
3 Desert Studies Faculty, Semnan University, Semnan 3513119111, Iran
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Abstract  

Wind erosion is one of the main drivers of soil loss in the world, which affects 20 million hectare land of Iran. Besides the soil loss, wind erosion contributes to carbon dioxide emission from the soil into the atmosphere. The objective of this study is to evaluate monthly and seasonal changes in carbon dioxide emission in four classes i.e., low, moderate, severe and very severe soil erosion and the interactions between air temperature and wind erosion in relation to carbon dioxide emission in the Bordekhun region, Boushehr Province, southwestern Iran. Wind erosion intensities were evaluated using IRIFR (Iran Research Institute of Forests and Ranges) model, in which four classes of soil erosion were identified. Afterward, we measured carbon dioxide emission on a monthly basis and for a period of one year using alkali traps in each class of soil erosion. Data on emission levels and erosion classes were analyzed as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with twelve replications in each treatment. The highest rate of emission occurred in July (4.490 g CO2/(m2?d)) in severely eroded lands and the least in January (0.086 g CO2/(m2?d)) in low eroded lands. Therefore, it is resulted that increasing erosion intensity causes an increase in soil carbon dioxide emission rate at severe erosion intensity. Moreover, the maximum amount of carbon dioxide emission happened in summer and the minimum in winter. Soil carbon dioxide emission was just related to air temperature without any relationship with soil moisture content; since changes of soil moisture in the wet and dry seasons were not high enough to affect soil microorganisms and respiration in dry areas. In general, there are complex and multiple relationships between various factors associated with soil erosion and carbon dioxide emission. Global warming causes events that lead to more erosion, which in turn increases greenhouse gas emission, and rising greenhouse gases will cause more global warming. The result of this study demonstrated the synergistic effect of wind erosion and global climate warming towards carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere.

Key words： alkali trap      arid areas      global warming      IRIFR model      soil biology     
Received: 05 November 2019      Published: 10 July 2020
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About author: *Corresponding author: Ahmad SADEGHIPOUR (E-mail: a.sadeghipour@semnan.ac.ir)
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KAMALI Nadia
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Cite this article:

Nadia KAMALI, Hamid SIROOSI, Ahmad SADEGHIPOUR. Impacts of wind erosion and seasonal changes on soil carbon dioxide emission in southwestern Iran. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(4): 690-700.

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http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-020-0018-5     OR     http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2020/V12/I4/690

Fig. 1 Sampling points of carbon dioxide emission in the Bordekhun region, Iran
Wind erosion class Rate of erosion Sum of calculated score Sediment discharge (t/(hm2?a))
I Slight <25 <2.5
II Low 25-50 2.5-5.0
III Medium 50-75 5.0-15.0
IV Severe 75-100 15.0-60.0
V Very severe >100 >60.0
Table 1 Definition of class and estimation of sediment discharge of wind erosion using IRIFR (Iran Research Institute of Forests and Ranges) model
Factor Indicator Score range Overall score
Petrology (P) Hard igneous rocks; quartzite; massive limestone and granite 0-2 0-10
Granular texture rocks; hard limestone rock and sandstone 2-4
Marl and clay; medium-grained alluvium; shale and conglomerate 4-7
Fine-grained alluvium; coastal sands; aeolian deposits and
clay plains		 7-10
Land morphology (LM) Mountain 0-2 0-10
Hill 2-4
Pediment 4-7
Flat plain 7-10
Velocity and quality of the wind (W) Average wind velocity at 10 m, less than 4.5 m/s and no dusty severe winds
No sand storm		 0-5 0-20
Average wind velocity at 10 m, between 4.5 and 5.0 m/s and no dusty sever winds, but can make dust
Occurrence of sand storms in some years		 5-10
Average wind velocity at 10 m, between 5.0 and 5.5 m/s; occurrence of one dust storm in the year and
1-5 d of sand storm in the year		 10-15
Average wind velocity at 10 m, more than 5.5 m/s and dusty severe winds
More than 5 days of sand storms in a year		 15-20
Soil and its surface (S) More than 60% of the soil surface is covered by coarse pebble, cemented or crusted -5-0 -5-15
About 40%-60% of the soil surface is covered by coarse to medium pebbles 0-5
Less than 40% of the soil surface is covered by fine pebbles and topsoil texture is sandy-loam or loam 5-10
No pebble is found on the soil surface and topsoil texture is loam to sandy 10-15
Density of vegetation (V) Vegetation cover more than 50% and uniform plant distribution -5-0 -5-15
Vegetation cover between 30% and 50% 0-5
Vegetation cover between 10% and 30% 5-10
Vegetation cover less than 10% 10-15
Erosive effect of soil surface (E) No sign of wind erosion is found on the surface soil 0-5 0-20
Limited signs of wind erosion are found on the surface soil 5-10
Relatively extensive signs of wind erosion are found in the surface soil 10-15
Extensive signs of wind erosion are found on the surface soil
Active Nebkha dunes are found in the area		 15-20
Soil dampness (D) Soil is always wet under the influence of groundwater
Wet-zone playa		 -5-0 -5-10
Surface soil is wet at some times of a year 0-4
Surface soil is wet occasionally, but dries rapidly 4-7
Surface soil is completely dry with rapid drainage 7-10
Type and dispersion of aeolian deposits (AD) Signs of wind deposits are not seen as sand dunes 0-2 0-10
Signs of wind deposits are seen as semi-active nebkha dunes and Rebdou 2-4
Wind deposits like active and non-active sand dunes or ripple marks are seen in the area 4-7
Active sand dunes, nebkhas and ripple marks are seen in the area 7-10
Land use management (LU) Sparse forest and rangelands with over exploitation and agricultural lands with less than 3 months fallow without a windbreaker 0-5 0-10
Rangelands with intense overgrazing
Agricultural lands with more than 3 months fallow without a windbreaker		 5-10
Bare lands and deserts having sparse or no vegetation cover
Abandoned and plowed agricultural lands		 10-15
Table 2 Method of scoring factors of wind erosion using IRIFR model
Fig. 2 Photo for collecting carbon dioxide emission in the Bordekhun region, Iran
No. Geomorphologic facies P LM W S V E D AD LU SS Eclass
1 Rock outcrop with debris 4 4 4 -2 8 3 4 3 -2 26 II
2 Coarse debris 6 4 8 -4 15 3 4 2 -3 35 II
3 Water erosion 5 4 8 0 8 2 6 4 -2 35 II
4 Irregular slope 6 5 14 5 0 4 6 5 7 52 III
5 Gully erosion 9 9 18 14 7 18 5 7 14 101 V
6 Sand beds 10 10 20 15 15 10 10 10 5 105 V
7 Alluvium of fine grain 9 7 20 4 14 8 8 7 5 82 IV
8 Sand dunes 10 10 20 15 15 10 9 10 5 104 V
9 Argillaceous area 10 10 20 10 12 10 10 10 0 92 IV
10 Side erosion 8 6 15 3 8 6 5 4 0 55 III
11 Rock outcrop 7 4 10 4 7 4 6 4 -2 44 II
12 Alluvial fan 8 8 19 10 3 8 9 5 5 75 III
13 Wind erosion 7 10 19 10 11 10 5 5 6 83 IV
14 Alluvium of coarse grains 9 10 18 15 14 9 9 7 10 101 V
15 Slight rill erosion 10 9 18 15 13 10 10 7 11 103 V
16 Alluvium of medium grains 7 9 17 9 10 7 10 5 5 79 IV
Table 3 Evaluation of wind erosion using IRIFR model
Fig. 3 Wind erosion classes using IRIFR model. II, low erosion; III, medium erosion; IV, severe erosion; V, very severe erosion.
Source Sum of square df Mean square F Sig.
Corrected model 346.228 47 7.367 185.497 0.000
Intercept 375.870 1 375.870 9464.806 0.000
Month 246.564 11 22.415 564.431 0.000
Erosion 43.937 3 14.646 368.790 0.000
Month×Erosion 55.727 33 1.689 42.523 0.000
Error 20.968 528 0.040
Total 743.066 576
Corrected total 367.196 575
Table 4 Result of ANOVA for carbon dioxide emission in different months and wind erosion classes
Fig. 4 Soil carbon dioxide emission in different months and wind erosion classes (low, medium, severe and very severe)
Wind erosion class Air temperature Soil moisture
Low 0.686* -0.534
Medium 0.629* -0.545
Severe 0.793** -0.585
Very severe 0.711** -0.503
Table 5 Pearson's correlation coefficients of wind erosion classes with air temperature and soil moisture
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