ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Original Research

Authors

Zanganeh   Y. (*1)
Boroughani   M. (2)






(*1) Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran
(2) Department of Geography, Research Center for Geographical Sciences and Social Studies, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Hakim Sabzevari University, Tohid Shahr, Sabzevar, Iran. Postal Code: 9617976487
Phone: +98 (51)44013308
Fax: +98 (51)44013271
y.zangane@hsu.ac.ir

Article History

Received:  September  5, 2020
Accepted:  November 1, 2020
ePublished:  June 16, 2021

BRIEF TEXT


Dust storm is a complicated phenomenon influenced by various meteorological factors. Sistan in the southern east of Iran is one of the regions which is most affected by the dust phenomenon.

Dust storms can have an impact on climate change [Mie et al., 2008], human health and the ecosystem [Hahnenberger & Nicoll, 2014]. Southern east of Iran particularly Sistan are highly influenced by dust storms [AlizadehChoobari et al., 2014; Rashki et al., 2013] which is mainly due to the droughts, dried up Hamoon lake, 120-day winds, and the Dasht-e Lut causing a lot of annual dust storms [Rashki et al., 2012]. Sand storms increase the emigration rate by destroying the rural infrastructures and make life hard for the residents [Mosallanejad, 2008]. Abdullahzadeh et al. (2009) studied the influential factors on rural people's tendency to emigrate from Zabol. The results show that repulsion in the region they live and more frequent sand storms were among the most influential factors from respondents' point of view.

This study aimed to analyze the relationship between dust and changes in the rural population in Sistan (including five cities of Zabol, Hirmand, Zahak, Nimrooz, and Hamoon) in a period of 25 years (1991-2016)

This is a descriptive-analytical study that used desk studies and population statistics to collect data.

The current research is carried out in five cities of Semnan provinces including Zabol, Zahak, Hamoon, and Nimrooz from 1991 to 2016.

There are no sampling methods and numbers mentioned.

MODIS images were used to detect dust in these regions.

MODIS data were used in order to detect dust. Miller's method (2003) was used to show dust on the images. Using this method and false-color composite images, dust masses were detected on the images. Figure 2 shows one of the dust masses on MODIS images. As it is shown all the region is covered with dust.The rural population growth rate was calculated in four time periods of 1991 to 1996, 1996-2006, 2006-2011, and 2011-2016 so as to analyze the relationship between rural population growth and the average number of dusty days [Statistics Center of Iran]. The results are shown in Table2: The results of Table 2 show that the annual rate of rural population growth in the studied area is significantly less than that of Sistan province in all four time periods. A comparison between these amounts and the number of dusty days shows that time periods with the biggest difference between the annual rate of rural population growth in the studied area and the province were those periods with the highest number of dusty days on average. Figure 1 clearly shows it. To evaluate the relationship between two variables of the annual rate of rural population growth and the number of dusty days on average, Pearson correlation coefficient was used. Totally, 68 pairs of variables are calculated in the calculations because 17 cities were studied in four time periods. The independent variable which is the average number of dusty days is repeated in 17 cities. Used data are summarized in Table 3 in order to calculate the correlation coefficient. The results of the correlation coefficient test are shown in Table 4: there is a significant negative correlation between two variables i.e. the annual rate of rural population growth was lower in those periods with more dusty days. The analysis of the emigration matrix in two periods of 2006-2011 and 2011-2016 approves this claim (Table 5). As the matrix mentions the destination and the starting point in the level of cities, it is not possible to differentiate the destination into the village and the city.

The results of dust spots detection show that there are various spots near the studied villages and consequently the severe impact of the dust storms on these regions. This result is consistent with the results of AlizadehChoobari et al. (2014), Rashki et al. (2013), and Iranmanesh et al. (2005). Rashki et al. (2012) believe that the dust storms in Sistan have local sources particularly from Hamoon dried up lake. According to the results of the current study, during those periods with more frequent dust phenomenon, a larger number of people emigrated and reduced the rural population annual growth. These results are consistent with the results of Mir Lotfi et al. (2015) who show that almost 7000 Sistani families emigrated during the second half of 2013. Sand storms are among the most important factors making people emigrate because of destroying the rural infrastructures [Mosallanejad, 2008].

There is no suggestion reported.

There is no limitation reported.

According to the results, it can be concluded that the changes in the annual rate of rural population growth in the studied area are influenced by the emigration of the residents of the studied villages as well as the overall population growth pattern in the country in two last decades. The relationship between the annual rate of rural population growth and the number of dusty days through influencing rural people's emigration to other regions is understandable. Population retention potential in the villages of Sistan is highly dependent on the environmental features particularly successive droughts which may lead to sand and dust storms. As the Hamoon dried-up bed is one of the main dust spots in this region, increasing the inlet water to the lake is a practical measure to tackle the problem. A part of this problem depends on Afghanistan's cooperation to discharge Iran's water right from the Hirmand river into the lake. However, increasing precipitation in 2018 and 2019 filled almost 30 % of the lake with water.

The authors tend to thank the Hakim Sabzevari University provided the facilities and infrastructures need for this study.

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TABLES and CHARTS

Show attach file


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