Identification of sediment harvesting areas in west wind erosion center of Tehran Province (Case Study: Malard County)

Wind erosion and dust storms are one of the natural disasters that are increasingly facing the arid and desert areas of central Iran. Improper management in natural resources has also had a high impact on this phenomenon. One of the basic principles of controlling and combating wind erosion is to know the areas of sediment harvesting. The purpose of this study is to identify the areas of wind sediment harvesting in the facies of the Mallard region in the west of Tehran province. Based on topographic maps, satellite imagery, geological map, and field surveys, the geomorphologic facies map was prepared and then the sampling was done and analyzed in a GIS environment. The interpretation of the anemometer data using Windrose & Stormrose showed the wind direction of the dominant and eroding from the northwest. The results obtained from the study's Sandrose indicated that variation in wind direction is low to high, and Qazvin station (the station closest to the critical centers) had high variability and included multi-directional winds with sharp angles. The 83 samples of different facies of the study area are graded by the ASTM (Dry Sieve) method. The granulation results indicate the local origin of the harvest. The prioritization map of the critical centers of the region showed that 16.4% of the area is low intensity, 3.4% medium intensity, and 3% high intensity. Finally, it was found that saline clay with no vegetation cover or with little vegetation covered with saline in the plain had the highest percentage of particles sensitive to wind erosion.