Study Particle size of sand dunes and its application in finding source of sediments surrounding Ahvaz fault

The southwest province of Iran has a dry and semi-arid climate, with about 250,000 hectares of sand dunes; therefore a comprehensive review and overview of these features and their correlation with other features is needed. In this study, over 200 sand samples were collected from the mobile and not mobile sand dunes to study the grain size of sand dunes in Khuzestan. The results showed there was no significant difference in the mean grain size from east to west, along a 200 km transect of the sampled area. The mean grain size in the west was 2.87 to 2.14 φ scale (136 to 226 microns) and in the east 3.05 to 2.16 φ (120 to 223 microns). The standard deviation of particle size of the samples was good and fairly good (0.71 to 0.35 φ). Using tilt condensation particle diameter in the range of sand dunes area, folk scale (0.1 to 1 φ) was positive. These distances represent 20 to 50 km with mean transported distance of 35 km for the west and 50 to 200 km transported distance with mean value of 125 km for the east section of the Khuzestan province for the sand dunes. For the transport distances, average transport distance could be divided into four categories, including 3, 12.5, 35 and 125 km. According to the results, the source of particles of the sand dunes in Khuzestan province is local, mainly from northwest and west.