Author(s)

Esmail Namdadi¹, Mostafa Karimian Eghbal^1*, Nikou Hamzehpour²

¹Soil Science Department, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
²Soil Science Department, Maragheh University, Maragheh, Iran.

Dust phenomenon is one of the biggest environmental problems in arid and semiarid regions. In these areas, lakes and wetlands are natural dust traps and core sampling method can be an appropriate way to assess the phenomenon of the dust. Therefore, the purpose of this study is the study of frequency and characteristics of dust sediments in core samples from Hashilan wetlands, Kermanshah. Four intact core samples were taken from different parts of the Hashilan wetland in Kermanshah. Physical, chemical and micromorphological analysis were done. Also clay mineralogy was performed using X-ray analysis (XRD) and shape of particles was photographed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Considering that four samples had been taken from different parts of the wetland, the quantitative differences in dust amount are likely due to the location of the samples. The results of XRD and thin sections show that the dominant mineralogical composition of dust particles was clay minerals, quartz and calcite. SEM results for core sample 1 revealed that most particles had the size between 2 to 50 mm which ranged from fine silt to coarse silt. Considering the similarities between SEM images for core sample 1 and those from Kermanshah dust measurement station, it could be said that fine rounded particles detected at top 30 cm of core samples had Aeolian origin. These findings were in accordance with the results from dust measurement and weather station of Kermanshah about increased dust activities in the study area over past 10 years.

Core sampling, Dust, Micromorphology, Mineralogy

Namdadi, E. , Eghbal, M. and Hamzehpour, N. (2016) Frequency and Characteristics of Dust Sediments in Core Samples from Hashylan Wetland, Kermanshah, Iran. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 4, 17-28. doi: 10.4236/gep.2016.43002.