نشریه جغرافیا و برنامه ریزی محیطی
سال سی و دوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 82، تابستان 1400)

Road construction is one of the most important needs of different countries. To achieve development, it is necessary to use transportation methods to transport goods and services in less time and more safety. As a result, the development and creation of new roads seem inevitable, and their construction is part of infrastructure projects that have many social, economic, political, and environmental consequences. In addition, it should be noted that the selection of unsuitable routes for construction can have potentially negative consequences for the environment of a region. These negative consequences include habitat destruction, fragmentation of wildlife populations, road accidents, floods, soil erosion, landscape degradation, and increased public access to untapped natural resources, etc. Therefore, the optimal and sustainable use of the environment in road development projects is one of the most important and fundamental stages of sustainable development in optimal routing and reducing the negative effects of the environment. The Delijan-Aligudarz route is one of the important transit roads. This road passes by the Moteh Wildlife Sanctuary, which has caused serious damages to this wildlife habitat. Therefore, environmental characteristics should be considered in the routing process to reduce damages to natural resources and achieve sustainable development goals. The purpose of this study is to choose the least costly route from an environmental and economic point of view. To achieve this goal, optimal routing and GIS have been used in this study.  

In this study, 3 groups of criteria including ecological, technical-safety, and economic-social criteria and 12 sub-criteria for optimal routing were developed. Criteria include slope, altitude, land use, geology, erosion, landslide, distance from the fault, distance from protected areas, distance from groundwater level, distance from the river, and urban and rural centers. Then the effective criteria in the GIS were digitized. Because each benchmark map has different measurement ranges and scales, the standardization process was used to standardize the measurement scales and convert them into comparable units. Criteria and constraint maps were standardized based on Fuzzy and Boolean logic, respectively. In the next stage, the AHP and WLC methods were used for weighting and integrating the criteria, respectively, and a multi-criteria evaluation map is obtained. According to this map, a friction layer was created in the GIS environment. A friction map is a raster format map in which each cell has a value that can be considered as a relative or absolute barrier to path passage. In the next step, a cumulative cost map was prepared. The cost level map shows the cost of passing from one cell to another in different directions cumulatively. Finally, the path was designed using the Least Cost Pathway Algorithm and the destination point in ArcGIS software.  

The designed and the current path were compared in terms of environmental parameters to select the path that causes less damage to the environment as the optimal path. Choosing the optimal route is a type of Multi-Criteria Decision Making. The weight of the AHP method showed that slope, distance from protected areas, and landslide sensitivity have gained the most weight, and are of the highest importance in optimal routing according to experts. The results showed that the privacy of effective environmental criteria in road construction has been observed in the designed route so that the designed route has not passed the Mooteh Wildlife Sanctuary and is more than four kilometers away, while 8.6% of the current route is located less than one kilometer from this wildlife refuge. Also, 16, 25 and 2.8% of the current route has passed through the urban, rural, and fault areas, while these environmental criteria are regarded in the designed path.  

The results show that the designed route is much better in terms of environmental criteria than the current route.As a result, it is suggested that in road construction projects, first of all, the influential factors be identified and a suitable path in terms of the environment be designed by observing the laws and principles of the environment and using GIS.   

The presence of soluble formations promotes the formation of karstic forms. Among the most important types of these forms are sinkholes. Since the Gachsaran Formation in Jaber and Maroon plains comprise the gypsum layers, the gypsum sinkholes have occurred inside them and the karst zones of Parau and Shahou heights in Kermanshah Province have also formed on the carbonate layers. The field studies confirm that there are major differences in the morphometry and formation mechanism of gypsum and calcareous sinkholes. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of the formation mechanism of these phenomena on their morphometry and the differences and similarities of the two phenomena (gypsum and Calcareous sinkholes). In this study, the parameters of the sinkholes, including the general shape of the sinkholes, diameter, depth, slope, perimeter, and the area of ​​each sinkhole were collected. According to the Basu method, the gypsum sinkholes are categorized as elongated and bowl-shaped types, and on the basis of the Switch method, they are classified as bowl-shaped, pit-like, and funnel-shaped sinkholes. While another investigation conducted on the calcareous sinkholes indicates that these phenomena are mainly categorized in the form of oval and elongated sinkholes, and some of them are formed in the bowl-shaped types (based on the Basu Method). Besides, according to the Switch method, they are classified as bowl-shaped forms as well. Then, the relationship between these components was evaluated by using the multivariate linear regression statistical method and stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. One of the important results in this study was the direct relationship between the morphometry of the shapes and their mechanism of formation. The plastic property of the Gachsaran Formation is the cause of the placement of this formation in synclines. It causes variation in the position of gypsum layers. So, gypsum layers had different places and different positions. The relationship between gypsum layers and effective water flows and the very high rate of dissolution of gypsum (compared to lime) causes gypsum sinkholes to have different mechanisms of formation and variation in form, even in a specific study area. As a result, modeling for gypsum sinkholes is more complex than limestone sinkholes.  

Karst is a geomorphic and hydrological system that is formed by the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum (Eziot et al., 2014). Gypsum and anhydrite are among the rock types which can be karstified easily and quickly (White, 1988). There is a close relationship between karst geomorphology and its evolution so that karst morphology phenomena are abundant and developed in the area (Ghobadi 2009, Karimi 2010). Generally, four different mechanisms are characterized for the formation of sinkholes. The mechanisms are solutions from above, collapse from the bottom, soil transport, and removal of buoyant support. Sometimes the formation of the sinkholes is due to a combination of different mechanisms. It seems that the above-mentioned mechanisms can also be applied to gypsum sinkholes; the only difference is the formation speed of the landform (Gunay, 2002). This research attempted to investigate the structural and morphometric differences and similarities between the gypsum and calcareous sinkholes and to compare their mechanisms of formation.  

Due to the considerable difference between the dimensions of the gypsum and calcareous sinkholes in this study, two methods were applied to study and extract the sinkhole forms. In a study carried out by Zamanzadehh et al. (2019), the sinkholes of the study areas were extracted based on DEM10 and CCLs methods. Given the much smaller size of gypsum karstic sinkholes in comparison to the calcareous sinkholes, the CCLs method cannot be used to investigate the morphometric features of the gypsum sinkholes in the study areas of Maroon and Jaber plains. Thus, field studies are the only way to identify these sinkholes. After the field investigation and measuring the characteristics of sinkholes in both study areas, the required parameters were prepared by SPSS software.  

In this research, Basu and Switch methods were used to determine the morphology of the sinkholes. According to the calculations, most of the sinkholes of the Maroon plain are categorized in elongated forms, and the most frequent sinkholes of the Jaber plain are of the circular category, while in Zamanzadehh et al. (2019), based on the Basu method, the least and the most frequent sinkholes are of circular and oval types, respectively. Also, some of the sinkholes are classified as elongated ones. Using the Switch method, in the Maroon and Jaber plains, 14% of the sinkholes are of pit-like type, 13% of them are funnel-shaped, and 73% of them are categorized as bowl-shaped, while in the case of calcareous sinkholes (Zamanzadehh et al., 2019), all of them are bowl-shaped. However, based on the studies and observations, it should be noted that the vicinity of marl and gypsum, and marl collapse within the gypsum sinkholes can cause major changes in the morphometry of the sinkholes and disrupt these assumptions.  

According to the results of the conducted research on the gypsum sinkholes, the components of the area with large diameter, the area with small diameter, a deep area, and a large diameter demonstrate the most significant correlation. The results of Zamanzadehh et al. (2019) confirm that the components of the perimeter with large diameter, small diameter with perimeter, large diameter with the area, an area with perimeter, and small diameter with an area have the most significant correlation. The results of simple regression analysis of second and third-degree equations between morphometric parameters of gypsum sinkholes show that there is the highest correlation rate among some parameters such as perimeter and area, small diameter and large diameter of gypsum sinkholes, while the obtained results of Zamanzadehh et al. (2019) confirms that the maximum significant relationship is between the area and perimeter components. The results of stepwise multiple linear regression analysis among the morphometric components of the sinkholes show that the highest quantity of the coefficient of determination is related to the area, small diameter and large diameter, and depth, and the lowest quantity of the coefficient of determination is related to the slope with depth, and large and small diameters. However, according to Zamanzadehh et al. (2019), the maximum quantity of significant relationship is related to perimeter parameter with the parameters of large and small diameters, and the least quantity of significant relationship is related to the components of the slope with depth, small diameter, and large diameter. The reason for the difference between the dimensions of calcareous and gypsum sinkholes can be owing to the thickness of gypsum and calcareous layers. The presence of the limestone on the crest of the elevations and the existence of gypsum sinkholes in the synclines, as well as the thickness of calcareous layers, compared to the gypsum layers, and the difference in dissolution rate of these two layers are the main factors behind the differences in the formation mechanism of these features. The presence of the creeks on the formations and gypsum layers of the Maroon plain form the elongated sinkholes. In the Jaber plain, where most of the sinkholes are formed on the knick line, the intersection point of a hillside concentrated flow and the gypsum layer has created circular sinkholes. However, it should be noted that the presence of gypsum layers with marl layers and their vicinity changes the appearance of these sinkholes rapidly (due to the collapse of marl) and basically influences their morphometry. The dissolution is the most important factor for the formation of calcareous sinkholes, and the fault factor is the only parameter that has caused a high proportion of oval and elongated sinkholes in comparison with circular sinkholes. However, due to the plasticity and thickness of the gypsum layers in the Gachsaran Formation, the effects of tectonic activities on these layers are damping, and the faults do not affect the formation of the sinkholes. One of the most significant reasons that have led to the higher correlations of calcareous sinkholes to gypsum sinkholes stems from the formation type of them.   

Unplanned urban expansion related to population growth, economic development, and rural migration to urban areas has led to unsustainable urban, industrial, and agricultural development. One reason is that spatial planning faces various social, economic, and political challenges that hinder proper structural development. Air pollution has emerged as a prominent threat to human health especially in developing countries; therefore, in several studies, unsuitable land use planning was determined as the main factor of air pollution. However, sometimes a new development takes place in an area affected by air pollution. In this case, even if the land use assessment process is accurately implemented with traditional criteria and without considering air pollution, there would be no rational arrangement for sustainable development. Despite these issues, the air pollution criteria have been mostly ignored in land use assessment studies. The west of the Isfahan region, especially Mobarakeh County, is one of the major spots for agricultural and industrial activities in Iran due to the favorable climatic conditions and the presence of the Zayandehrood River as a water source. This area is also the location of mega industries that include Mobarakeh Steel and Isfahan Steel factories. Accordingly, Mobarakeh County has been constantly affected by various air pollutant factors such as PM10 and NOX caused by these large industrial factories. The existence of agricultural and industrial land uses caused various contradictions between them and urban land use. The criterion of air quality should be considered in urban planning because the residents’ health is one of the most important priorities of any region. Therefore, this study aimed to provide a methodology to include the air pollution criteria in the process of land use planning for agricultural, urban, and industrial land uses. Accordingly, the authors conducted the land use planning in two scenarios ‘with’ and ‘without’ considering the air pollution. Finally, we prioritized the optimal areas for the sustainable development of the region.

In this study, to evaluate the suitable area for zoning activity (including the agricultural, industrial, and urban), we considered the physical and the ecological criteria with the air pollution ones (including the distribution of PM10 and NOX). Two scenarios were developed as with/without consideration of air pollution criterion. The optimal land use planning was applied for agricultural, urban, and industrial land uses. PM10 and NOX annual dispersion maps were used as air pollution criteria which were simulated by the AERMOD model. Standardization and weighting of the physical, ecological, and socio-economic criteria of the land uses were implemented using the AHP model. Then, to combine the factors, a weighted linear combination technique was applied. The values of this technique ranged from 0 to 1. In this map, higher values represent more desirable areas. After producing six maps from WLC, the suitable areas for each of the zones were combined separately with and without considering the air pollution using the Multi-Objective Land Allocation (MOLA) method. The MOLA method is a multi-purpose method that tries to allocate each land unit to the most appropriate land use. Finally, the optimal land use was selected using the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) approach. Its primary theory is that the preferred option should have the lowest distance from the ideal solution and the farthest from the unpropitious ideal solution.

The findings of the study confirmed that considering air pollution criteria is helping the zoning of the suitable areas and can change the planning strategies for the development of land use. However, the comparison of the two scenarios showed that nearly 73% of agricultural, 85% of industrial, and 64% of urban areas have remained unchanged in both scenarios. Therefore, 27% of the agricultural land area (292 hectares), 15% of the industrial land area (165 hectares), and 36% of the urban land area (393 hectares) were, in fact, unsuitable for development, which was deemed appropriate due to the lack of air pollution criteria in the traditional approach to land use planning. The 2432 hectares of land use included 802 hectares of agricultural areas, 929 hectares of industrial lands, and 701 hectares of urban areas will not change if the air pollution criteria were considered or not considered. As a result, considering four different land uses (agricultural, urban, industrial, and lands without use) for Mobarakeh county, a maximum of 16 different modes of conversion of land uses to each other can be expected, which just ten conversions identified in the study area and no conflicting conversions in these conversions. As a result, the selection of suitable areas for urban areas compared to other land uses is more impressed by air pollution criteria. On the other hand, more stability of industrial lands is related to the fact that the permissible air pollution levels for this land use were different from the other lands. The reason for these changes was twofold: first, the inadmissibility of air pollution limit for each land use; second, the allocation of suitable areas in terms of air pollution in which there was the minimum health effect.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate suitable sites for developing land uses as well as agricultural, industrial, and urban towards achieving sustainable development in one of the most significant places in terms of the environment. According to the results of this study, to evaluate the potential of agricultural, industrial, and urban land uses, in addition to traditional criteria, air pollution criteria such as PM10 and NOX should be considered.‏

Some believe that the most important factor in changing the face of the earth is the change of use of forest lands and deforestation. Transforming forests into agricultural lands, road construction, and construction of buildings in forests are examples of this change. Studies have shown that changing the forest land use can damage the environment and cause some crises such as floods which have negative economic and social effects on communities. In recent years, due to population growth, large areas of the world’s forest lands have been destroyed and turned into agricultural lands. This problem is also evident in Iran, and after water shortages, it is the second major problem in Iran. Land use change is created in natural and human forms. Behavioral theories place special emphasis on attitude, which is referred to as the most important determinant of behavior. Studies have also shown that environmental attitudes are important and influential factors in people's behavior. For this reason, the present study was conducted to investigate the environmental views of villagers in the form of the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP). The main question was whether the villagers in villages near the forest have a favorable view of the environment and whether this view is related to attitudes towards the forest land use change.  

This research was conducted using the survey method. The required data were collected by a questionnaire that included questions about demographic characteristics, the tendency towards the NEP, and attitudes towards forest land use change. Questions about the NEP included 15 items that were designed based on the index provided by Danlap et al. For attitudes towards land use change, 26 questions were used in a Likert type with five choices. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by face validity. To test the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.89 for the NEP and 0.895 for the attitude towards land use change, which indicated appropriate reliability of the questionnaire. The study population included villagers living in the villages near forest areas of Golestan province. A population of 7038 households from 10 counties of the province was included in the study. The required sample size was 364 using the Morgan table. Sampling was performed by the stratified random sampling method. To do this, each group of villages with the highest or the lowest forest deforestation was considered as a stratum. Then, in consultation with experts from the General Office of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of Golestan Province, half of the villages on each stratum were randomly selected for the study. Then, according to the number of households in each village and using the appropriate assignment method, the required number of households in each village was randomly selected. Interviews were conducted with a member of the household with at least 20 years of age. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS19 software.  

Data analysis showed that half of the studied samples were male and the other half were female. The age of respondents ranged from 20 to 65 years, and the mean was 37.7 with a standard deviation of 10.43. The mean score of the tendency towards the NEP was 50.14 with a standard deviation of 6.34, which indicated a relatively good tendency of villagers towards it. Also, their attitude towards land use change can be assessed as moderate. The results showed that residents in villages with most forest destruction were more likely to have a weaker tendency towards the NEP and, conversely, to have a stronger tendency towards land use change. In other words, they were more prepared to change forest lands. The correlation test also showed that as people become more advocated for the NEP, their attitudes towards land use change become weaker and they had less desire to change forest lands.  

The results of the present study showed a relatively good tendency of the villagers to the NEP. This result, which indicates the appropriate view of the villagers living in villages near forests to nature and the environment, showed that the villagers not only do not have a negative attitude towards the environment but also support the environment. But, studies have shown that good attitudes towards nature do not necessarily lead to appropriate behaviors. However, at least in terms of the type of view towards nature and the environment, there was a relatively good situation among the studied villagers. Furthermore, residents of villages with low-destructed forests have had more tendency towards the NEP, which could confirm the link between people's attitudes towards the environment and the quality of the environment. Of course, it should be noted that the tendency to supporting views of the environment is only one variable along with other economic, social, cultural, and political variables that affect the quality of the environment. Therefore, in addition to environmental views, it is important to examine the effect of other factors on the condition of forests. The findings of the present study also showed that people's attitudes towards forest land use change are at a moderate level, which is not very suitable among the studied villagers, because emotionally it shows the average readiness of villagers to change land use. However, the residents with the most degraded forest lands have a more favorable attitude towards land use change, and in this regard, there is more readiness in them to change forest lands. The finding raises concerns that if the conditions for forest land change are favorable, it will not be encountered with much resistance from the villagers. However, based on the results of the study, it can be hoped that by strengthening the views in favor of the environment, the attitudes in favor of changing the use of forest lands will be reduced. Therefore, in forest management and conservation programs, the attitudes of the public towards the environment and the protection of forest lands should be considered as an important issue. To do this, it is suggested that by implementing participatory programs in forest management and protection, the villagers have the opportunity to gain sufficient knowledge and perceptions about the importance and functions of forests to improve their view towards forests.  

Today, the growth of urbanization and the expansion of cities, especially large cities, have increased the negative effects of urban development and imposed serious challenges related to environmental quality (Chiarini et al., 2020; Ziari et al., 2018). Among the types of pollution, air pollution is the main type threatening the environment and humans (Rai, 2016). According to the World Health Organization, air pollution deaths in the world are 7 million people annually and about 9 out of 10 people are exposed to this pollution. In recent decades, air pollution in large cities has intensified due to the emission of pollutants from factories and vehicles. In addition, urban spatial patterns and lack of attention to the optimal location of urban elements have led to air pollutants approaching the ground level and thus further endangering the health of citizens. Therefore, the role of urban planning in establishing relationships between land use, economic activities, sustainable urban mechanisms, and controlling and reducing air pollution has been approved. Despite the above-mentioned importance of paying attention to the problem of air pollution in large cities and considering the spatial factors affecting it in the urban planning system, the study of the research background indicates that in a macro classification, the air pollution zoning models of cities in the field of urban planning were classified into two categories: interpolation and spatial analysis models. Interpolation models estimate air pollution based on data from field survey stations. The purpose of this study is to identify the spatial indicators affecting air pollution in the urban planning system and to analyze and rank the fifteen regions of Isfahan metropolis based on spatial indicators. The metropolis of Isfahan is one of the three largest cities in the country and one of the cities with high use of cars and motorcycles. Therefore, in line with the above goal, first, the spatial indicators affecting air pollution have been extracted by referring to the theoretical and experimental literature and then the situation of fifteen regions of Isfahan metropolis has been analyzed based on the spatial distribution indicators. · This article is extracted From the second author`s Dissertation entitled: “Analysis and Ranking of Fifteen Regions of Isfahan Metropolis Using Biophilic Urban Planning Approach” under supervision first author in the Architecture and Urban Planning Faculty of Art University of Isfahan.

The present descriptive-analytical study has a mixed paradigm due to the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative method used in this research is survey type and the qualitative method is a case study. Also, this research is a part of applied research in terms of purpose. The data were collected using library and field methods. For data analysis, spatial analysis methods in GIS software were used. After preparing analytical maps of air pollution based on each of the indicators, the Swara method was used to weigh the criteria and Indicators. In this regard, first, through qualitative sampling, 30 experts were selected and then the criteria and the indicators of each criterion were ranked based on their views. Finally, by using the spatial analysis method and Map Algebra tool in GIS software, the indicators and the zoning map were prepared.  

In this study, research indicators in fifteen regions of Isfahan metropolis have been analyzed and compared, according to which the height reduction, proximity to the concentration of urban industries, terminals, intersections, population and dust prone areas, increasing distance from rivers, creeks, areas with dense vegetation and areas affected by airflow, increasing building density, increasing traffic volume and proximity to heavy industries near the city increase air pollution. After preparing the analytical maps, according to the coefficients and the effect of the indicators, the overlapping of the analytical maps and the ranking of the regions was done, based on which regions 7, 8, 13, and 14 were at the most unfavorable rank.  

The results of the study show different distributions of air pollution in fifteen regions at five ranks as follows: 1)  Very high air pollution: including regions 7, 8, 13, and 14, which are in a very unfavorable situation in terms of air pollution, and urban planning with a spatial approach to increase the health of residents for these regions is the first priority. 2)  High air pollution: Regions 3, 5, 10, and 12 are at this rank. These regions are in poor condition in terms of air pollution and planning for these regions is the second priority. 3)   Moderate air pollution: Regions 1, 2, 4, and 15 are in relatively good condition in terms of air pollution and planning for these regions is the third priority. 4)  Low air pollution: Regions 6 and 11 are at this rank. These regions are in good condition in terms of air pollution and are the fourth priority of planning. 5)  Very low air pollution: Region 9 is in very good condition in terms of air pollution compared to other regions and planning for this region is the last priority. Based on the results, the most important cause of air pollution in the metropolis of Isfahan is the existence of inner-city industries, the placement of heavy industries near the city, and the existence of financial problems to purify the pollution of these industries. Other main causes of air pollution include high use of private vehicles, heavy traffic on inner-city highways and main roads, lack of construction privacy for these main roads, the presence of worn-out vehicles, the weakness of the public transportation system, inversion and the drying of the Zayandehrood in most days of the year and increased dust hotspots in the warmer months of the year (especially in the eastern parts of the city). In order to solve the problem of air pollution in the Isfahan metropolis, first, a comprehensive and detailed plan is necessary. Second, incompatible activities such as air-polluting terminals and workshops should be removed from near residential areas outside the city limits. It is also necessary to implement measures in the scale of regions and neighborhoods to control and reduce air pollution in priority regions with emphasis on spatial factors discussed in the theoretical and experimental literature. Other improvement measures include the rehabilitation of rivers and creeks, the management of travel demand through the organization of public transportation and the strengthening of pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, not locating industries in the prevailing wind direction (west and southwest), the establishment of air quality monitoring stations in different parts of the city for the regular monitoring of air quality in all regions and zones, and creation of vegetation in unused regions near incompatible activities and main intersections of the city.   

The flow of water and rivers is the most important phenomenon in the crustal processes that not only plays a role in the overall appearance of the earth but also determines the form of human life on the planet. As a dynamic system, a river always changes its morphological location and characteristics according to time, geomorphic, geological-hydrological factors, and sometimes due to the human intervention. Bank erosion of rivers could cause a lot of damage to agricultural lands, buildings, riverside structures, roads, bridges, etc. every year. Inaddition, it could cause significant amounts of sediment to be transferred to dam reservoirs. The Haft Cheshmeh River basin is located in the Rozjerd region, in the northeast of Qazvin province and on the southern slope of Alborz. In the present study, the Haft Cheshmeh River in the area from Rozjerd to Shinqar villages has been studied for approximately 11 km. The pattern of the river in this sinusoidal range with an average curvature coefficient is 1.17.  

In order to obtain the required data, the Haft Cheshmeh River was divided into 4 sections and 10 cross-sections, and from these cross-sections, a cross-sectional profile of the channel was prepared during 7 field works. To investigate the erosion of the Haft Cheshmeh River using the near bank stress model (NBS), the estimation of the stress applied to the shore is related to the slope flow, in which seven methods can be used in accordance with the conditions of the region. According to the characteristics of the Haft Cheshmeh river, in this study, three methods of the ratio of the radius of curvature to the width of the bankfull (Rc/Wbkf), the ratio of the maximum depth of the near bank to the depth bankfull (dnb/dbkf), and the ratio of the shear stress of the near bank to the shear stress of the bankfull ) were used. After obtaining the data by field sampling and calculations, according to the measured parameters, the degree of lateral erosion in different classes was classified from very low to severe.  

To investigate the erosion of the Haft Cheshmeh River, the Near Bank Stress Model (NBS) was used. At the second level, which measures the ratio of the radius of curvature to the width of the bank, all sections, with the exception of cross-section 9, have severe erosion. Only in cross-section 9, very little erosion has been observed. At the fifth level, which is the ratio of the maximum depth of the near bank to the depth of the bankfull, low and very low erosion from the first to the eighth sections on both sides of the shore were observed. Only the ninth and tenth sections have high and severe erosion; however, even on the right bank of the tenth section, erosion is low. At the sixth level, which is the ratio of the shear stress of the near bank to the shear stress of the bankfull, the erosion has low and very low values in all cross-sections.  

The use of the ratio of the radius of curvature to the width of the bankfull is appropriate for a time when a narrow radius has the maximum effect on the bend of the river. Therefore, the results obtained from the cross-sections that were harvested at the site of the bend of the stream were consistent with the reality of the region and showed the instability of the sides. The results of the shear stress of the near bank to the shear stress of the bankfull did not correspond to reality. According to field observations and data obtained using the above-mentioned three methods, the ratio of the radius of curvature to the width of the bankfull is close to reality. Although the results of the near bank stress model show the erosive cross-sections with less intensity, if it is necessary to provide a quick and low-cost estimate of river intervals, it is reasonable to use the near bank stress model.   

Phenology is a key indicator in plant growth and plays an important role in monitoring vegetation. Monitoring seasonal variations in vegetation activities and crop technology over large areas is essential for many applications, including estimating initial net production time to model crop performance and supportive water supply decisions. On the other hand, extracting this important information requires a lot of time and money. The southeast of Fars Province in Iran has a very favorable climate and environmental conditions for citrus growth and thus the region is one of the most important citrus cultivation spots in Iran. Given the significance of citrus cultivation in the food production of the country as well as its important role in regional economics, planning in the field of citrus phenological information in this region solve many challenges in the agricultural sector in the region. In other words, knowing the plant phenological status in citrus orchards can play an important role in planning and managing climate change and ultimately the development of the agricultural sector of this province. In this regard, this study aims to estimate the main phenological stages of orange trees using remote sensing.  

In the proposed study, MODIS images (2006-2016) were employed. The images were downloaded for 10 days. The remotely sensed images were used to extract vegetation indices including NDVI, EVI, and TCI to modeling the phenology of the orange trees. Also, 1/25000 maps of Iran National Cartographic Center were used as the spatial reference for the images geo-referencing. The meteorological data including daily maximum and minimum temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation were collected from the Darab Agrometeorology station. The phenological data including the onset and end of each phonological period of orange trees which were being observed from 2006 to 2016 at the Agrometeorology Station was used in this study. In this study, the three most widely used remote sensing indices were investigated to evaluate the health and status of vegetation and temperature conditions. The normalized difference vegetation index, vegetation status, and temperature condition index were calculated to compare the results of the remote sensing and traditional harvesting of plant phenological stages. To observe the effect of moisture on vegetation, the charts of normalized maximum temperature, normalized maximum moisture, and normalized difference vegetation index were plotted for all the years.  

The phenological stages of citrus had 9 main phases and 97 sub-phases, out of which 6 main stages were presented to the researchers and were investigated. The 6 main phenological stages of oranges are as follows: Leaf bud and fruit formation, leaf bud and fruit flourishing, fruiting and leaf growth, fruit and leaf growth, fruit ripening, and sleep cycle. To interpret these stages, the charts of normalized maximum temperature and normalized temperature condition index obtained from the MODIS satellite images were plotted for all crop years. The variation of Tem max was correlated to the growing stages of orange trees. In the other words, the normalized temperature condition index obtained from the satellite images properly indicated the temperature variations. Moreover, the temperature change charts properly showed the changes in the duration of the phenological stages of orange trees.  

To investigate the effect of temperature variations on different phenological stages of orange trees, the normalized maximum temperature and normalized difference vegetation index were plotted for all the crop years. At each point where the peak of the normalized maximum temperature was observed, the peak in the normalized difference vegetation index was also found at a very small distance. In other words, when the temperature increased, the conditions were favorable for increasing vegetation and the plant begins to grow. Finally, to evaluate the performance of remote sensing indices in expressing changes in temperature and vegetation conditions, the correlation coefficient between remote sensing indices and ground data was calculated in pairs. Since the study area was arable land and human factors were involved in plant growth, the resulting correlation coefficients were small. The results of calculating the correlation coefficients indicated that the indices obtained from remote sensing using satellite images can properly show the changes in the main phenological stages. On the other hand, these indices can be produced daily and the trend of changes can be seen without harvesting and physical observation of the product.