Investigating sedimentological and classification of Maharloo lake surface to determine its sensitivity to wind erosion

Understanding the physical and chemical characteristics of sediments of lakes and wetlands is important for sedimentology and erosion studies. Maharloo Lake is one of the most important lakes of Fars Province. Surface sediments of this lake consist of evaporitic and muddy sediments. For recognition of the nature of the sediments, samples were taken from lake bed and carbonate and evaporitic compositions including calcium-carbonate, calcium-solfate and sodium-chloride were measured. After omitting carbonate and evaporitic compositions, granolumetric analysis of terrigenous fraction was performed using hydrometry method and sediment classification was performed using Pettijohn (1975) Method. The result of the percentage of terrigenous and chemical fractions of surface sediments showed that most of the sediments were fine-grained terrigenous sediment, containing chemical salts. Terrigenous sediments are poorly sorted, skewed toward coarser sizes and have slightly gravelly, sandy mud texture. More than 90 % of sediment minerals in the lake is clay and less than10 % is gypsum, quartz, quartz sandstone, and limestone. Depending on the type of sediment, minerals, salts and frequency of deposits, the sediments of Maharloo Lake are prone to wind erosion and dust generation in the region.