Multi-temporal analysis of the industrial dusts effects of Mazandaran cement plant on neighbouring forest cover

The present study aims to investigate the effects of industrial dusts on Zarandin forest covering section 3 of the Neka-Zalemrood Forestry Plan in the northern Hyrcanian forests by analyzing NDVI vegetation indices extracted from Landsat satellite imagery. To this end, in accordance with the position of the MODIS pixels, four 250 m pixels affected by industrial dust were identified near the dust center during field visits. The correlation coefficient between EVI and SPI with a 7 month lag was 0.15 and for NDVI with 8 month lag was 0.13. The p-value was not significant. The NDVI at different distances (from less than 800 m to more than 2000 m) of the pollution center during the years of access to Landsat images (1972-2017) showed a decreasing trend. Simple linear regression results of NDVI and time at different distances from the pollution center showed that the passage of time had an inverse correlation with NDVI in less than 800 m distance from the pollution center and its regression coefficient (R2) was 0.837. By increasing the distance from the pollution center, the NDVI variations decreased over time so that the explanation of the regression coefficient between time and NDVI reached zero in a distance more than 2000 m. Due to the small role of drought and quantitative changes of vegetation in the study area, it strengthened the role of industrial dust due to industrial activities in causing forest vegetation stress.