Effects of Soil Moisture Content on Dust Sources in Disturbed and Pseudo Undisturbed Soil in Southeastern Ahvaz

This research conducted various experiments using a wind tunnel on soil samples from the most critical parts of dust sources in southeastern of Ahvaz. The main goal of this study is to show the effect of moisture on the movement of soil particles in the dust centers. The laboratory work was carried out in two parts: a: Addition of water to completely disturbed soil surface (wetting in the bag) b: Addition of water to soil layers of samples wetting that was named pseudo undisturbed soil. The results showed that dust generation under natural conditions (dry soils) in a laboratory wind tunnel will be 53 times more than the pseudo undisturbed soils with moisture content of 2-4% in volume. Moreover, soils with moisture contents of 5-8 and 10-12% do not differ significantly from those with 2-4% moisture content in preventing dust generation. If soil surface is disturbed after it is provided with adequate moisture, not only will dust generation not decrease compared to the case when the soil surface was dry but it will also increase by 25 percent. The practical point of this study is that in the study area, increasing soil moisture between 2 to 4% can greatly reduce the formation of dust.