Surveying the performance of flood control dams on vegetation cover and soil carbon storage in Kermanshah Province

Now a day, carbon sequestration is an important issue due to its serious role on global warming. The aim of this research was to evaluate mechanical measure of check dams on vegetation cover and soil carbon storage in watersheds of Kermanshah Province, Iran. These check dams were constructed in the drainage systems to reduce surface runoff velocity and optimize channel slope. Small sedimentary dams are made by gabions and dry structures. The soil and vegetation characteristics of the areas under mechanical operation and its control (severe grazing and grazing management) by field survey in selected sites of Gilan Ghab, Kangavar and Sarfirozabad. The plant biomass including canopy cover and plant root as well as plant litter were samplled along transect path using the quadrat plot. 36 soil sampls were collected from 0-20 cm of soil depths and were air dried and sieved through two milimeter mesh and analyzed in the soil laboratory. Soil organic carbon was measured by the Walkley and Black method and statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS software (version 19). Results showed that both mechanical (check dams) contributed to store 49.28 tonha-1 of carbon which was significantly lower than biological measures. It was concluded that vegetation cover has the most effects on carbon sequestration of the rangelands compared to mechanical methods.