Determining the Risk of Sand Transportation to Residential Areas around Kashan Erg using Anemometry Data Analysis

The Kashan erg is one of the most important sand dune complexes in Iran. Being affected by wind erosion, the erg''s borderlands face numerous problems as a result of sand movement. To evaluate the risk of sands moving into residential areas near the Kashan erg, anemometry data from synoptic stations located in Kashan, Ardestan, Meimeh, Naeen, and Qom were collected and analyzed to calculate the sand rose and to determine the amount and direction of sand transfer. Annual and seasonal data from the past 40 years were studied. Based on the position of different stations and the prevailing direction of erosive winds at the stations under study, Kashan is more vulnerable to sand transfer than other areas, because the prevailing direction of erosive winds in Kashan is from the northeast and west, and the Kashan erg is located exactly northeast of Kashan. In this area, wind forces result in sand movement towards Kashan. Thus, Kashan is much more exposed to moving sand than the cities of Ardestan and Naeen. The cities of Qom and Meimeh are not at risk from moving sands. According to the morphology of the erg and sand rose calculations, most sand transfer occurs first in the erg''s vast sand dunes and then in the compound dunes in the center; it occurs less in the transverse dunes located north of the erg and in the linear ones south of it.