Environmental Erosion Research Journal

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Kangir watershed is one of the most important watersheds in Iran in terms of water resources management. Land use and cover changes (LULC) in this basin are of great strategic importance because they are one of the most important sources of water in the Ilam province. In the present study, using Landsat satellite images and the classification method in the Google Earth Engine platform, the land use changes of the basin in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020 were extracted and their impact on local hydrological changes was investigated. The present study on the Kangir watershed was carried out to perform effective flow detection and evaluate the effects of LULC changes in the past 30 years on water. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model showed that the simulated results were consistent with the measured data in the seasonal dynamic flow reproduction. It was also observed that sub-basins in which pasture is dominant are more susceptible to increased runoff. In sub-basins where the land cover is mainly forest, the time series is homogeneous and trendless. The present study showed the effects of 30 years of LULC changes in the Kangir basin on runoff, which in turn can play an important role in changing the hydrological cycle as a result these changes can affect diverse human activities in the region such as agriculture, animal husbandry, energy production, food security, and water supply. Therefore, the SWAT model is a good estimator for flow simulation processes in the Kangir basins and can be used by decision-makers in water resources and environmental management.

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Substantial population growth and urbanization arbitrarily banning the exploitation of natural resources and environmental factors adversely impacts the environment and resources necessary for nutrition and healthy life styles. The secret to success and survival of ecosystems depends on a stable, continuous monitoring of the environment. The SWOT model has been developedto consider all internal and external aspects.  In this study, to analyze land use and cover changes in Taleghan,we have used SWOT as a qualitative approach to develop sustainable land management. Taleghan is a town in Alborz Province located within the Taleghan watershed. Referring to the SWOT analysis matrix sustainable tourism development was presented as the best strategy for SO,imposed regulations of soil and water pollution by the health centers as the best strategy for ST, avoidance of land use changes as the best strategy for WO, and finally the range management plan to reduce surface both runoff and soil erosion as the best strategy for WT.However, the proposed diagram of sustainability (IUCN) has two indicators,the ecosystem's quality and acceptance and lifestyle desirability which is based on the ecological features and indigenous areas rooted in public participation.  Based on the above indicators, the presented solutions are more realistic which prevent disturbance to the ecosystem's natural balance which leads to sustainable development, notable in the marshes of Taleghan.

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Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a principal component in soil quality assessment. Knowledge of SOC and total nitrogen (TN) stocks are important keys to understand the role of SOC in the global carbon cycle and, as a result, in the mitigation of global greenhouse effects. SOC and TN stocks are functions of the SOC concentration and the bulk density of the soil that are prone to changes, influenced by land use changes, and soil erosion processes. This study has evaluated SOC and TN stock under different land use types and soil erosion types at catchment scale.SOC and TN stocks were measured in 112 different sampling sites of four main groups of land use/soil erosion: rangeland/surface erosion, orchard/surface erosion, dry-farming land/surface erosion, and rangeland/streambank erosion at Hiv and Zidasht catchments, Iran. The results showed that SOC and TN stock under all land use and erosion groups was significantly different. SOC and TN stock was greatest in the orchard land use and the total SOC stock for the 20 cm soil layer under different land uses and erosion types varied for Hiv in order of orchard/surface erosion (46), rangeland/surface erosion (31), and rangeland/streambank erosion Mg/ha (p<0.005).  For Zidasht, the variance was, in order:orchard/surface erosion (43), dry-farming land/surface erosion (23), rangeland/surface erosion (23), and rangeland/streambank erosion 22 Ton/Hector (p<0.005). The TN stock has the same trend in all studied land use and erosional groups. Therefore it was concluded that rangelands were affected by erosion, with a subsequent decreasein productivity level. These results can be useful as a scientific basis for selecting the proper soil erosion control methods as a simple, low-cost approach to mitigate SOC and TN loss.

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The Rivers most common sources of drinking water supply, agriculture and industry are considered as due to the different regions of admission and can pass and in direct contact with with its surroundings have many quality swings. The other hand, excessive exploitation of soil, continuous use of surface and underground water resources and sustainable use of agricultural chemicals (fertilizers and pesticides). Significant negative effects have on the environment. Human factors such as various land use changes is important factor to water resources has being physical, chemical and biological changes. These changes were generally negative and the exploitation of water resources are severely limited. This paper investigates the effect of different land uses on the quality of surface water resources are discussed.

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In this study the effects of land use change from salt affected land to cropland on soil quality indicators were studied in Chahafzal region, Yazd province, central Iran. Composite soil samples from 0-30 and 30-60 cm depths of saline and cultivated land were taken. Soil particle size distribution, calcium carbonate, Available water capacity (AWC), Electrical conductivity (ECe), Soil reaction (pH), Sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and concentration of soluble ions were determined. Results showed that land use changes from saline to arable lands resulted in a significant reduction of sand, ECe, pH and SAR due to land use changes in region studied. The silt, clay and AWC Increased due to land use changes. The amount of calcium carbonate in both soil depths did not change substantially. Overall, it is concluded that a change in land use from salt affected land to croplands with widespread agricultural practices, specifically intensive tillage activities, may lead to enhanced physical and chemical properties of soil, which could result in increased soil quality.

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Landslide is one of the natural disasters which cause a lot of annual damage directly or indirectly in the world. Land use changes and high rainfall are leading causes of creation this phenomenon in Beheshtabad basin. Therefore the effective factors were analyzed in this process. The main aim of this study is comparison of two methods AHP and FAHP that are used in landslide hazard zonation by considering the effective qualities and quantities parameters in this phenomenon. First of all, hazard zonation map was prepared with AHP method using inconsistency rate 7%. Then, fuzzy membership function defined for each parameter, and hazard zonation map was prepared to the base of FAHP method. Finally, two maps were compared by Quality sum method and results show that FAHP method has higher accuracy than AHP but different is not significant. In addition, 57.7% of landslide have been located in moderate elevation with 680-760 mm rainfall in Beheshtabad watershed.

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To determine the effect of conversion of rangelands to dry land farming on losses of carbon and nitrogen, Dryland farming areas and adjacent rangelands were determined. Popular areas in each of the treatments were determined and soil sampling was done. Treatments were chosen so that each treatment and the surrounding area (control), topography and climate characteristics are the same and the only variable factor is land use. Treatments were choice according the characteristics such as the diversity of cultures (annuals orperennials) and physiographic (slope, aspect and elevation). To study the physical and chemical properties of soil, 3 profiles were dugin each Treatments and a total of 45 soil profiles were excavated. Data analysis was done using the student t-test and analysis of variance. The results showed conversion of rengelands to drylands farming effect on carbon and nitrogen stocks in ecosystem. Conversion of pasture to cropand leads to reducedby an average of 44.5 in soil organic carbon content. Peacultivation reduces the carbon content of the soil (44.8%). Viticulture and almond decreased soil organic carbon by 24.2% and 30.2%, respectively. Thus, planting grapes were detectedas the best in terms of maintaining stocks carbon and nitrogen.

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Abstract Change in land use pattern influenced hydrological processes in basin and disrupt the normal balance of water flow. In the present research, hydrological parameters change of Babul Rod watershed basin has been that investigated concluded of land use changes in 1988 and 2009. To determine land use changes of Babul Rod watershed basin we has recruited TM satellite images 1988(1367) year and ETM 2009(1388) year with factor of spatial resolution of 30 meters that using stratified classification classified into four types: urban, land of combined(urban, garden and garden spaces), agriculture-horticulture and bare land. According to the classification, forest and combined lands(agriculture, garden) of Babul Rod basin have encountered with area reduce and pasture and urban lands use have encountered with increase area. The HEC-HMS model is used for investigating the impact of land use changes of Babul Rod on hydrology cycle and factors quantify of hydrology Balance of the investigating watershed basin and analyzing relationship. The results of this model has shown clearly: reducing the precipitation losses, increasing elevation and runoff coefficient, increasing maximum rate of flow and increasing medium rate of flow, the impact of Babul Rod river morphologic changes and land use of its territory on flood factors.

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The land-use change, cutting forest trees and the grasslands conversion to agricultural lands destroyed natural ecosystems and also current or future production capacity reduce and these are harmful effects on the soil physicochemical characteristics. This study taken with aim, checking the role of forest-land change on some soil physical-chemical characteristics and then identify some effectiveness variables on soil erodibility index in the part of Nekarood watershed . In this study survived the three forest, pasture and agriculture land uses.. Then the 7 soil samples in completely randomized block design collected and compared from two soil surface layers of 0-10 cm and 10-20cm.The results showed that the amount of organic matter for agriculture and grassland land use toward forest land use decreased to 35.70 and 21.85% (layer of 0-10 cm), respectively and 36.22 and 22.64% (layer of 10-20 cm), respectively. R The maximum total nitrogen in forest land use observed with amount of 0.37 and layer of 0-10 cm and the minimum total nitrogen in agriculture land use observed with amount of 0.16 and layer of 10-20 cm, that it had reducing equal56.75The results also showed that the bulk density, pH and sand percent increased in forest land use wherese, of, soil porosity, caution exchange capacity, silt and clay present decreased. The results presented that the soil erodibility after changing forest land use had increase about 1.5 because declining perennial vegetation, soil organic matter, aggregating the soil structure and aggregate stability.

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1. INTRODUCTION

Since the land use change affects many natural processes including soil erosion and sediment yield, floods and soil degradation and the chemical and physical properties of soil, so, different aspects of land use changes in the past and future should be considered particularly in the planning and decision-making. One of the most important applications of remote sensing is land use classification using satellite images. For this purpose, many algorithms have been developed. Since the generate maps with sufficient efficiency is the main purpose of processing images and thematic maps, therefore, selection of appropriate classification algorithm can play an important role in this regard. In recent years, it has been of interest for researchers to study land use changes, modeling and predicting these changes for the future due to the good performance of GIS systems and satellite data. Markov chain and cellular automata model is one of the current models to simulate land use map. This model, which is a combination of cellular automata model and Markov chain, is able to simulate land use changes with multiple features.

2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

To evaluate the effectiveness of algorithms for mapping land use classification for past and present, three of Landsat satellite images were chosen from the years 1993 (TM), 2002 (ETM⁺) and 2014 (Landsat8) with almost an identical period. In this study, the middle of summer (July) was chosen as the time criterion for the selected images to minimize the effects of cloud cover and snow and also to improve the accuracy of training samples. At this time, the canopy of vegetation is maximum and cloud cover is minimum (Shahkooeei et al., 2014). One of the main steps is the prediction of the future land use map of basin by using Markov-cellular automata.

3- METHODOLOGY

In this study, firstly, the efficiencies of support vector machine (SVM), artificial neural network (MLP) and network self-organizing map (SOM) classification algorithms have been evaluated in the classification of Landsat satellite images. In addition, the efficiencies of the mentioned algorithms were compared. In the second step, for the prediction of future land use (2025), LCM model based on Markov chain and cellular automata was used. For this purpose, land use maps of 1993-2002 were applied for the calibration, and the 2002-2014 ones were implemented for model evaluation. Also, for producing the land suitability map, spatial variables involving distance from the road, distance from residential areas, distance from the mainstream, elevation and slope as the effective factors influencing on land use changes, were considered.

4- RESULTS

The results showed that SVM algorithm was superior with the total accuracy of 0.95 and kappa coefficient of 0.93 than the other two methods. In addition, the results of CA-Markov model for the period of 2002-2014 with the agreement of the 0.94 and Kappa index (Klocation) which showed the ability of the model to predict the position of the cells equal to 0.92, suggested a good performance of this approach to simulate future land-use map of the basin.

5- CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS

The estimated land use changes in 2025 attributes the exchanging of 60 percent of the gardens to urban areas. In other words, it is anticipated that approximately 420 hectares of orchards areas would be lost by 2025 in the study area. So, due to certain conditions of being in drylands, land management and land use changes must be further considered in comparison to those ones in the past.

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1- INTRODUCTION
Over the past few decades, the objective of the evaluation and monitoring of the optimal utilization of sustainable natural resource services and ecosystem performance has been the successor to the ecosystem structure. Tongway and Hindley introduced a Landscape Function Analysis (LFA) method in 2004 to evaluate the ecosystem Function. In the new method, soil is considered as the most important element in rangeland ecosystems in order to determine the spectacle function, because the ecosystem status can be determined by examining the changes in the soil surface indexes, and this was possible for the expert to judge the changes brought about by the management and ecological practices of the rangeland.This research was carried out with the aim of evaluating the effect of change of rangeland conversion to farmland and its land use change effect on ecosystem function in rangelands of Navar area in the suburbs of Sanandaj.
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The importance of soil surface indexes has been expressed by various researchers such as the high correlation between basal cover and disruption of water flow, the importance of canopy size as an indicator of the distribution of soil resources, the effect of plant composition on organic carbon changes, soil permeability, the effect of bare soil on the potential of erosion and the importance of cryptogam cover in soil stabilization. Landscape Performance Analysis (LFA) is a method of monitoring with quantitative indicators. In this method, 11 indicators of soil surface area have been used to evaluate three functional properties including stability, permeability and elemental cycle.
3- METHODOLOGY
The study area was divided into two landscapes. Based on the LFA method, three 50-meter transects were deployed in a 10-meter intervals along the slopes. During each transect, the length and width of patches included shrub, grass, forb and combination (combination of all patches and space between pieces (bare soil) were recorded. For each patch and inter-patch, five replicates were determined and for each replication the 11 soil surface parameters were evaluated. The soil surface parameters were evaluated for each ecological patch and inter-patch according to the LFA method. To evaluate three functional properties including stability, permeability and elemental cycle, and calculating 11 soil surface indexes, the LFA guidelines and the LFA software designed in the Excel environment were used.
4- RESULTS
The results showed that the total stability index in the rangeland (47.2%) was higher than that of the dryland (24.4%) and their difference was significant (p <0.05). Due to the variety of ecological patches and their number, as well as the irregular and discontinuous pattern of water flow in the rangeland, the stability index in the rangeland was more than the drayland. The results showed that in the rangeland the ecological shrub patche had the highest stability, and in the dryland the combined patch had the highest stability. With regard to stability index, there was a significant difference between the combination of patches with other ecological components and inter patches (bare soil) in dryland, and in the case of rangeland, the shrub patch also yielded a similar result (p <0.05). Regarding permeability index in rangeland and dryland, grass and combined patch had the highest amount, respectively. With regard to nutrient cycle index in the rangeland, grass patch had the highest amount. The combined patch in the dryland had the highest amount of nutritional cycle index.
5- CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
In general, the two landscapes have different functions depending on environmental factors and vegetative forms. The presence of independent grass patches in the rangeland (ecological indicator of rangeland) and the presence of a small number of combined patches (3 pieces) and shrub patches in the abandoned dryland (the ecologically indicator of this landscape) are due to the difference in the function of these landscapes. The rangeland has the highest function and the abandoned dryland has the lowest function. It can also be argued that LFA is a simple and fast method for assessing the function of rangeland ecosystems. In fact, saving time and cost of decision-making on management projects will reduce the risk of any operation at natural ecosystems.
According to the results, it can be stated that the change in the utilization of the rangeland to dryland has reduced the ecosystem stability index and thus provided the soil surface with more soil erosion. Therefore, we must strictly prevent rangeland conversion to dryland.

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EXTENDED ABSTRACT
     The land use change of watersheds has entailed many impacts on the processes of erosion and sediment yield over the time, and has caused the loss of soil quality and fertility. On the other hand, an increase in the sediment generation and its accumulation would reduce the capacity of the reservoirs. In this respect, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the implementation of land-use change scenarios on runoff and suspended sediment from the outlet of the watershed. The simulation of runoff and sediment was investigated according to the defined scenario for the Dinevar watershed with a focus on SWAT model based on the statistical indicators. The results of NS and R2 indicators above 50 and 60 percent for both calibration and validation steps, respectively, imply the model efficiency regarding the hydrological data simulating in the watershed. The results of the coefficient of determination and Nash-Sutcliffe were 0.55 and 0.6, respectively, in the calibration, and were 0.58 and 0.62, respectively in the validation, implying the model efficiency in the watershed. The suggested scenario was applied to improve the lands. This means that the bare land, which increased during this period, was planted by the evergreens and deciduous. The results of this scenario showed that the implementation of this land use change in the scenario reduced the suspended sediment and runoff into 52 and 32 percent, respectively.
1- INTRODUCTION
     Land use with inappropriate vegetation patterns can cause severe water, soil and food losses and land degradation. Land use change is a large and fast process and assessing such changes and their impacts on the development, and management of the water resources in the future is very important. In order to better understand the process and the fate of the pollution and also the hydrologic regime, the SWAT model was used to simulate the runoff and suspended sediment under the influence of land use change over time during a given period based on the hypothetical scenarios in Dinewar watershed.
2- METHODOLOGY
     Dinewar watershed with 214577 hectares is located in the northeast of Kermanshah. The average of the annual precipitation of this area during a 25-year period is 549.1 mm. The types of visible erosion in this watershed include surface erosion, rill erosion, water way erosion, gully and bank river erosion. The existing land use in the watershed included 34% agriculture, 1% garden, 10% free, 52% rangeland, 1% stone, 2.5% roads and residential areas. One of the models used to investigate the effects of land use change and climate change on runoff and sediment in the watershed scale was SWAT model. In the SWAT model, there is a possibility to assess the effects of different natural or managerial changes on runoff, sediment, nutrients and chemical balance in the watershed. With regard to runoff and sediment simulation, the data pertained to the synoptic station of Kermanshah and the meteorology stations of Sahne, Bisotun, Sonqor and Hasan Abad Sofla were utilized. Also, with regard to calibration, the validation and uncertainty analysis of results, i.e. the SUFI-2, was applied. To evaluate the simulated results, the performance criteria of the model including "P factor" and "R factor" as well as the two parameters of determination coefficient (R2) and Nash-Sutcliff were used.The new scenario was defined based on the previous and current proceeding land uses and the results of the simulation were compared to the current situation related to 2010.
3- RESULTS
     Flood and suspended sediment data of 1998 to 2006 were used for calibration, and 2007-2010 were used for validation. The results for flow data showed that determination coefficients of both the calibration and validation steps were higher than 0.77, and the Nash-Sutcliff coefficient was about 0.6 and higher. The results of the calibration step for sedimentation data were also equal to 0.55 in the determination coefficient and 0.66 in the Nash-Sutcliff coefficient, and the results of the statistical indices during the validation period increased 0.1 percent. The P factor is closer to the one that implied a higher percentage of observation data in the uncertainty band and the R factor is closer to zero that implied better simulation at this step. In the new scenario, degraded and no vegetation areas were replaced by the evergreen and shrubbery trees with moderate density, and the simulations were carried out based on a new scenario. The land use map for 2010 was taken as a control map. The results of the simulation based on the new land use scenario showed that the daily average runoff is 4.86 m3 / s (32.72%), and the maximum discharge rate during the studied period decreased to 74.13 m3/s (36/69 %). The proposed scenario can also reduce the daily average suspended sediment in the study period by 252.98 mg / s (52.83%) and decrease the maximum suspended sediment rate by 9050 mg / sec (71.54%).
4- DISCUSSION and CONLLUSIONS
In the defined scenario in this study, a change was made whose implementation is possible in reality. Many changes, such as reducing the area under the cultivation, residential and industrial areas, are not applicable in most of the watersheds. The new scenario, which aims at improving the vegetation cover and soil conservation, reduces sediment yield from the watershed, and this effect is especially noticeable at the peak of the simulation curves, and little effect is observed in places where the amount of sediment is lower. In addition, the results of the statistical indicators implied the high performance of the SWAT model in simulating hydrological processes which demonstrates the impact of various management measures and land use on these processes in the studied watershed.

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Extended abstract

1. Introduction

Wind erosion is one the most important factors of land degradation in the arid and semi-arid areas and it is one the most serious environmental problems in the world. In Fars province, 17 cities are prone to wind erosion and are considered as critical zones of wind erosion. One of the most important factors in soil wind erosion is land use/cover change. Therefore, accurate mapping of land use/cover and wind erosion evidences in arid and semiarid regions is the utmost importance. Moreover, for discrimination of land covers resulting from wind erosion such as sand sheets and Nebka, we need accurate remote sensing methods. In this study, capability of the advanced machine learning techniques on Landsat 7 and 8 imageries in mapping land use/cover related to wind erosion is evaluated.  
2- Methodology
The study area is located in the Fars province, in the southern part of Iran, (from 28°07′15″ to 28°13′07″N and 52°07′36″ to 52°23′55″E, covering an area of 17,230 ha), which is considered as the most critical wind erosion area of the province. Landsat 7 (2006) and Landsat 8)2013) images were corrected radiometrically using Dark Object Subtraction method. Although images from USGS website are corrected geometrically, we checked the images using stream and road maps. According to the variations in land use/cover spectral behavior across the study area, it was difficult to define training samples representing thematic classes in a supervised classification procedure. Then different image enhancement techniques were applied. Classification stopped using Support Vector Machine with four different types of kernels including linear, polynomial, Radial Basis Function, sigmoid and Kohonen’s Self-Organizing Map neural network. Results were compared with Maximum Likelihood method. Using separability analysis, the best input band combination for classification was selected. The Overall Accuracy and Cohen’s Kappa coefficient, derived from the error of matrix which were used for the accuracy assessment of the final maps. 
3- Results
Results from accuracy assessment showed that the best map of the land use/cover in the relation to wind erosion was produced using a combination of original and processed bands and RBF vector machine (overall accuracy of 88 and 90.87 percent for L7 and L8, respectively). According to the separability metrics, the near infrared (NIR) and short infrared band (SWIR1), the WDVI, SAVI, LI indices, and processed bands by edge analysis in the aspect of E were finally selected as the best input band combination. The difference between accuracy of this method with linear, polynomial, SOM, sigmoid and ML methods were 1.5, 2.9, 8.3, 12.4, and 16.4 percent for L7 and 2.16, 4.16, 6.19, 13.89, and 14.67 percent for L8, respectively. In addition, results indicated that there was a significant change in wind erosion potential and land use/cover in relation to wind erosion in the study area in a short period of time. Rangelands were decreased by 73 percent and 10 percent of these areas are covered by sand sheets. More than half of rangelands were converted to agricultural lands. Insusceptible areas with surface crust or rocks were decreased by 59 and 2.39 percent, respectively.
4- Discussion & Conclusions
The accuracy of classification increased using a combination of processed and original bands in comparison with using original bands alone. This indicates the fact that processing image classification without paying attention to the quality of input bands, will not results in accurate classification map. One of the advantages of active learning algorithm is its less training samples requirement. This is very important for areas which are difficult to have access to them. Although there were not distinct and large sand dunes in the study area like what can be seen in desert areas of Iran, but discrimination of these small sand dune and nebkas were done accurately using the combination of original and processed bands of Landsat imageries and support vector machine methods. Goodarzimehr et al., (2012) also indicated that support vector machine was a better algorithm for discriminating lithology units comparing to maximum likelihood and neural network methods. Sandification was also recognized using remote sensing methods in this study which is one the indices of land degradation and wind erosion. Sand sheets showed and expansion mostly to the southeastern parts. The results indicated the change of rangelands into agricultural lands which will increase wind erosion potential. Low-efficiency irrigation systems combined with an increase in soil loss from arable lands leads to reduction in productivity. This is in line with findings by Minwer Alkharabsheh et al. (2013) who reported the progressive decrease of the agricultural areas and mixed rain-fed areas as the main reason of declining in soil erosion in Jordan. Generally, this study showed the capability of Landsat imageries and support vector machine learning in study of wind erosion potential in arid areas. 

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Extended abstract
1- Introduction
The occurrence of dust storms caused by wind erosion is a process that causes the destruction of land and can also be considered as a desertification indicator (Xu, 2006). Generally, the formation of a dust storm depends on three factors: the presence of strong winds, a sensitive surface to wind erosion and unstable weather conditions (Xia and Yang, 1996). Humans play an important role in the formation of dust storms through changing land use in sensitive areas to sand storms. In the arid and semi-arid areas covered with tiny and unstable materials, land degradation may occur as a result of land use change caused by over-grazing and farming. As a result, wind erosion increases, leading to more sand storms (Xu, 2006).
2- Methodology
For this research, first, using satellite imagery and land use map, the land uses in the study area that included the Ziziphus Nummularia natural forest, planted Prosopis Juliflora forests, agricultural land, sand dunes and rangelands were determined. After observing and accurately identifying the area, one week after the first rainfall, 15 undisturbed soil samples and 15 disturbed soil samples were collected from the area. After transferring the samples to the laboratory, the samples were exposed to dry air and then some physical and chemical properties of the soil were measured. Wind tunnel was used to determine the soil loss in different land uses, also the dust density determined using a Microdust pro device, which was installed in the outlet of the wind tunnel. This device measures dust concentrations in milligrams per cubic meter. So soil samples were simulated in 4 wind speeds including 2, 9, 16 m/s and wind erosion threshold velocity for 5 minutes. To determine the wind erosion threshold velocity, soil samples were placed in the wind tunnel. Then, by adjusting the wind speed that was possible by the inverter and using the accelerometer, the wind speed erosion threshold was measured in different land uses. In this way, the velocity has slowly increased, and the first particle that began to move was considered as the wind erosion threshold. In this study, the erosion rate was calculated from the ratio of the weight or volume of eroded soil to the sample surface. So, to determine the amount of soil loss, at the end of each experiment, the amount of sediment accumulated in the sediment trap was collected and weighed, and the soil loss was calculated based on the amount of soil erosion in grams per cm² per minute.
3- Results
Based on the results, there was no significant relationship between the dust concentration in the undisturbed and disturbed samples, but there was a significant relationship between soil loss in the undisturbed and disturbed samples. Comparison of the mean of suspended particles and the amount of soil loss in the both sample groups showed that the lowest and highest amount of suspended particles and soil losses was related to the Ziziphus Nummularia natural forest and sand dunes, respectively. According to the correlation results, there was a positive and significant correlation between wind erosion and SAR parameter (P <0.01), but there was a negative and significant correlation between the erosion and OC, Silt, SP and CS (P <0.01). Also, erosion had a negative correlation with EC, Mg, P and had a positive correlation with sand (P<0.05). The Principal Components Analysis (PCA) showed that three main components of wind erosion controller were Pc₁, Pc₂ and Pc₃, whose quota were about 48.7%, 21% and 9.7%, respectively.
4- Discussion & Conclusions
The results showed that by increasing the wind speed from 2 to 16 m/s, the intensity of wind erosion and dust concentration increased, but the amount of these parameters was various in different land uses. As in both sampling methods, these parameters had decreased from sandy hill, pasture land, planted Prosopis Juliflora forests, agriculture and Ziziphus Nummularia natural forest, respectively.
In general, it can be said that in different land uses, the amount of soil loss and dust concentration in disturbed samples was more than undisturbed samples. Actually, since the soil structure is broken up during the sampling, the stability between the soil particles is lost and the soil is easily exposed to wind erosion. Also, due to the corrosion of the soil, the bulk density varies. As the bulk density increases, the soil quality will decrease (Harris et al, 1996). Finally, it was found that Pc₁ components had more control over wind erosion. The components of Pc₁ include EC, organic matter, Mg, lime, silt, saturation moisture content, porosity and compressive strength. These parameters have an effect on wind erosion, and cause erosion to be further reduced.

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Extended abstract
1- Introduction
     Land use includes all types of land uses to meet different human needs. In other words, land use refers to the type of human use of land, and this type of use is related to the value of the land and (its) natural characteristics. To understand and identify, land use changes using satellite data to provide a broad and integrated view of an area, reproducibility, easy access, high accuracy of data obtained and high analytical speed, as well as performing the classification process a suitable way to map land use. It is particularly widespread in geographical areas. These changes include changes in the hydrological system, effects on erosion, changes in soil physical and chemical properties, and vast changes in land surface morphology, so studying land use changes is one of the (necessities). (The) rain study is the cognition of the face of the earth. Identifying timely and precise land use changes is the basis for a better understanding of the relationships and interactions between humans and land resources. Soil erosion is one of the most important soil (in)fertility factors that nowadays is increasing because of poultry manure loss.
 
2- Methodology
     The data needed in this method include topographic maps, land use, hydrological basin, soil, digital elevation model, slope of the area, as the input to the required model. Soil information is one of the most basic data needed for soil erodibility. WLC model requires soil map to scale with different soil physico-chemical properties such as soil texture, soil moisture percentage, hydraulic conductivity, bulk density. 1: 40,000 was prepared and used by Ardebil Province Natural Resources Department. Digital elevation map was prepared using 1: 25000 topographic map of the study area. In this research, using the topographic map of 1: 25000 scale and digital elevation modeling, the slope map of Agh Laghan Chay Watershed was prepared. The lithology map of the study area was prepared using the 1: 100,000 Geological Survey of Iran Geological Survey. In addition, the standardization-criticalization and weighing methods have been used.
3- Results
     The results show that in 1990 the overall accuracy was 95% and the kappa coefficient was 0.93, in 2000 the overall accuracy was 90% and the kappa coefficient was 0.97 and in 2018 the overall accuracy was 93% and the kappa coefficient was 0.91. During the years (1990-2000-2018), significant changes are noticeable, most notably the rangelands and the waste land, which, due to intensive exploitation, gradually shifts its land to other uses such as residential and agricultural areas, dry land, that have been assigned. Increased area of land use and cropland and agricultural areas in 2000 and 2018, compared to 1990, indicate the degradation of rangelands and the reduction of waste land, which will cause significant changes in the morphological systems of the region, mainly to increase the rate erosion and sedimentation in watersheds, reduction of groundwater recharge, destructive floods and other morphological processes will be due to erosion zoning maps in the study area that in 1990 was very high risk area of   1758/82 hectares. This class of danger per year 2000 and 2018, respectively 08/1912 and 25/1914 hectare is increased and the high class area in 1990, 59/4018, 78/4219 and 31/4481 to ha respectively in 2000 and 2018 is increased. In the erosion map of the years 1990-2000-2018, mainly high-risk and high-risk areas are located in agricultural, orchard and residential land uses; therefore, different land use changes in the area have caused changes in the morphological trends of the area.
4- Discussion & Conclusions
     Knowing the ratios of land uses and how they change over time is one of the most important issues in planning and policy making. Soil erosion is a global problem that threatens land-use such as changes in water resources. Land use changes are one of the most important issues in the recent world which causes many changes in land surface systems, including geomorphic systems. Land use is one of the most important factors in soil erosion. The results show more accuracy of object-oriented classification. Studies also show that monitoring land use changes using object-oriented methods yields better results when observing all parameters. In the study of land use changes over the years 1990–2012, the results showed that there were major changes in this period of time and It is related to dense rangelands that, due to intensive exploitation, have gradually devoted their land to other uses, such as residential and agricultural areas, and land use, and wasteland has declined over time and has become land and agricultural land. According to soil erosion zoning maps in the study area of   Agh Laghan Chay, In the years (1990-2000-2018), mainly high risk and high risk areas are in land use, agricultural, orchard, vegetation and high risk areas. Comfy and very comfy are located in rangelands and man-made areas. The results also showed that the area of   high risk class in the years (1990 - 2000 - 2018) was 11.20, 12.20 and 12.22%, respectively, and the area of   high risk class in the years (1990-2000-2018), respectively. The order is 25.59, 26.65 and 28.29, which is increasing like many high-risk classes, due to the increase in residential area. It seems necessary to preserve natural areas, stabilize and legalize land use, erosion control and soil and water conservation practices in the context of high erosion potentials, within the framework of other conservation schemes. Get it. Civilians and governmental and non-governmental organizations in the region can manage and monitor land use changes.

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Extended abstract
1- Introduction
Land use changes are identified as main driver for global changes with considerable effects on the ecosystems, climate and earth planet. At local to global scales, land resources have effective role on the humanity subsistence and ecosystem performance and its health. Changing in land use, degradation of vegetation and habitats are main causes for biodiversity destruction. Such changes are created by natural factors and anthropogenic activities (deforestation, agricultural unsuitable activities, overgrazing, etc.) resulting in land degradation. Rainfall and temperature are the two most important climatic variables which they use to climatic zonation and classification, and these variables are effective factors on the human, natural, economic and agricultural activities. Regarding to great area of the coastal region in Iran, in order to assessing land degradation and desertification, monitoring effective cover, land use and climatic variables is vital, and therefore understanding relationship between land use changes and driver factors are essential.
 
2- Methodology
In this research, we studied trend of land use changes in the coastal regions of southern Iran involving three provinces (Hormozgan, Sistan and Baluchestan and Busher) during period 1998-2019 using Landsat images (OLI and TM sensors). Likelihood maximum method applied to classifying satellite images and then SAVI, as a vegetation cover index, used to show vegetation dynamic and exploring land degradation and desertification trend. In order to map temperature and precipitation, we applied inverse distance weighting (IDW). For predicting land use changes, SAVI, temperature and precipitation, we used CA-Markov automat cell.
3- Results
Studying land use change trend in the coastal regions of the southern Iran during 1998-2019 indicates Salt land and man-made classes were increased 8.6 and 1.2%, and among all classes these two classes show the most changes, whereas a decreasing trend observed in the vegetation cover (with – 3.5%) and sand dunes (with -6%) classes, and also, a decreasing trend observed in water bodies. Based on the results, an increasing trend (with 0.8%) observed in the class 0-0.2% for SAVI, whereas we found a decreasing trend in the 0.2-0.4% class. According to results, a decreasing trend -0.7 and -8.6% were observed in the < 25.5 C and > 28.5 C classes, whereas 27-28.5% class shows an increasing trend with 9.7%. Studying precipitation changes showed that < 150 mm and 250-300 mm classes show an increasing and decreasing trend, respectively. Based on the predictions for 2039, three classes including salt land, man-made region and vegetation cover land uses show an increasing trend with 0.4%, 1.5% and 0.99% respectively. We observed a decreasing trend with -6.8% in the sand dune land use whereas water bodies have constant trend. Based on the forecasting results for SAVI, we observed an increasing trend 1.8% for 0.2-0.4% class and observed a decreasing trend (-1.7%) in the 0.4-0.6% class. Results showed that 25.5-27 C and 27-28.5 C classes experience an increasing trend (17%) and a decreasing trend (-18%) in 2039, respectively. According to precipitation predictions for 2039, we observed an increasing trend in the < 150 mm and 150-200mm classes, whereas we found a decreasing trend in the 250-300mm and 200-250mm classes, respectively.
4- Discussion & Conclusions
Land use changing has an important role in instability ecosystem and its services, and it is an effective factor in direction of land degradation. According to results provided for effective climatic variables (with an increasing trend in temperature and a decreasing trend in the precipitation) changes vegetation cover and result in low SAVI. We can conclude that climatic variables and SAVI are related factors which play important roles in land degradation, desertification and combating desertification in the coastal area. Results of this study are consistent with Salehi et al., 2019; Halebian & Soltanian, 2017; Maher et al., 2018; Alijani et al., 2012. 

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Extended abstract
1- Introduction
The land-use change is one of the critical worldwide issues that has caused a problem in natural resource sustainability. The dynamics of land-use and land-cover change (LULC) affected by the anthropogenic activities and climate change in arid areas, were caused environmental degradation of these areas. This process has the negative effects on soil physicochemical properties. Soil degradation is the key component of land degradation that affected by land-use changes. So that it causes organic waste carbon, decreases the soil aggregate stability and structure and, consequently the raises of soil erodibility. So to understand the impacts related to these changes in land-use (LU), assessment of the effects of these changes on soil characteristics is important. Therefore, the current study aim was to investigate the effect of land-use change on physico-chemical characteristics of soil and erosion in Sistan area.
2- Methodology
This research has done in Sistan area. This area laid southeastern border Iran and Afghanistan. The Sistan region forms a part of the Dasht-e-Lut and hence an exhibits extreme arid climatic regime. The region is nearly flat and featureless arid plain with an average height of 465–500m ASL in its eastern parts. In this study, at first spatial land-use changes in Sistan area determined. To achieve this purpose, used satellite images. By using the Landsat satellite images related to the years 2001 and 2019, the land use maps prepared, and by comparison approach in Idrisi Selva software, the map of land-use change was extraction. After that, the areas that converted from rangeland to flood-agri and bare land determined and that accuracy were assessed. Infield operation, 60 soil samples were collected from tow depths 0-25 and 25-50 cm in different land-use such as rangeland, flood-agri, and bare land. The Samples were collected in a completely randomized block design. To study the physical properties of soil, by hydrometer method, by the soil texture, and by measuring the mean weight diameter (MWD), the geometric mean diameter (GMD) and dry stable aggregates (DSA), the aggregate stability was determined. Also, the soil moisture and bulk density were measured. To investigate the chemical characteristics, the soil properties such as organic carbon, acidity (PH), electrical conductivity (EC), sodium absorption ratio (SAR), CaCO3, Na, and available K and P measured in the soil laboratory. The soil erodibility index calculated five characteristics, including sand, silt with fine sand, organic matter, soil structure class, and the infiltration rate class of the soil profile. To analysis the mean of parameters among different land uses were used the Duncan test.
3- Results
The result of the study of physical properties showed that the percentages of sand, silt, and clay particles among the land-use that under study were significantly different. So that by the land-use change from rangeland to flood-agri and bare land, the distribution of soil particle size differently, that consequently the soil texture has changed from loam-silt-clay class in rangeland to lighter class loam-silt and loam-sand in flood-agri and bare land respectively. According to this change, the aggregate stability of soil inland converted from rangeland to flood-agri, and bare land 34 and 45 percent have decreased. Also by land-use change, the soil moisture 18% and 43 % has decreased respectively. The results also showed that the bulk density of soil, acidity, electrical conductivity, Na, CaCO3 and absorption ratio (SAR), increased in converted land-use whereas, the organic carbon and available K soil, have decreased significantly. In addition, after land-use change, the erodibility index has increased significantly (P < 0.05). So that the amount of this index in flood-agri and bare land compared to the rangeland land-use, more than equal 4 and 7 respectively.    
4- Discussion & Conclusions
In this study, for the first time, has investigated the physico-chemistry characteristics of soil and erodibility in land converted from rangeland in Sistan area. The results revealed that the conversion of natural rangeland to flood-agri and bare land had negative effects on the measured soil properties. So that the percent of sand has increased, that changed the distribution of soil particle size, and according to that, the soil texture has changed also. This caused the aggregate stability soil to reduce. In addition, by decreasing the soil moisture, the plant growth has limited in this lands and given the high evaporation potential in Sistan area, the evaporation from land surface increased and according to that the electrical conductivity, acidity, Na and absorption ratio (SAR) in converted lands have increased, whereas, the organic carbon and available K soil, have decreased. This process has caused the Soil degradation, that affected by land-use changing. Therefore, the land-use change by destroying the soil structure and land-cover in converted lands, cause increases the potential of erodibility, that given exist environmental crises in Sistan area, has required the suitable planning to principle productivity of lands in Sistan area.

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Extended abstract
1- Introduction
Various measures and activities have been taken to reduce and prevent the direct and indirect effects of soil erosion but due to limited human and financial resources, it is often not possible to carry out these activities in a whole erosion-sensitive area; therefore, identification of areas requiring special attention to conservation is essential. Without prioritizing the watershed, many financial resources will be wasted, so mapping, monitoring, and prioritizing areas for erosion control will be required to avoid wasting funds. Therefore, prioritizing conservation areas at risk of soil erosion is an important consideration in natural resource management planning that allows decision makers to implement management strategies that are more sustainable in the long term. A review of the research background showed that almost no quantitative field measurements of soil erosion were performed using standard protocols in southern part of Bahmaei County. Also, no study has been conducted in Bahmaei County that has analyzed the spatial trends of erosion and its relationship with the effective factors. There is no information about erosion patterns and its dynamics in Bahmaei County in any study. Therefore, this study uses a relatively simple qualitative method by analyzing the interaction of three indicators of slope, vegetation and land use with the aim of helping to fill the existing gap for mapping and prioritizing lands in the southern part of Bahmaei County based on their sensitivity.
2- Methodology
The study area is southern part of Bahmaei County in Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad province with an area of about 40306 hectares and an average elevation of 623 meters above sea level. The average rainfall in this region is about 400 mm. About 60% of Southern part of Bahmaei County is composed of erosion-sensitive formations of Gachsaran, Mishan and Aghajari consisting of clay, marl and gypsum, which is also in a very weak condition in terms of vegetation. However, developing soil erosion management strategies in this area is very limited due to lack of data.  The rate and amount of soil erosion is influenced by topographic factors, vegetation, rainfall and runoff, soil erodibility, and land cover (Wang et al., 2013). The intensity, duration and frequency of rainfall are important factors in soil loss that are affected by climate, while vegetation and slope are factors that determine soil resistance to erosion. In this study the risk of soil erosion was evaluated on the basis of the reaction between the slope angle, vegetation cover and land use and, according to the SL 190-2007 standard, classified and ranked in very low, moderate, severe, very severe and highly inflated classes.
3- Results
Investigation of the parameters affecting soil erosion showed that slope class 0 to 5 ° had the highest percentage of area (40%) and slope class greater than 35 ° had the lowest area percentage (1%) in the study area. This is indicative of the low slope and lowland area and the area should have little soil erosion. In 2003, class 45 to 60% had the highest amount (92%) and class less than 30% had the lowest amount (0.0007%) of vegetation, and in 2017, class 30 to 45% had the highest amount (81.6%) and class more than 75% have the lowest amount (0.065%) of vegetation. This indicates a decrease in vegetation over time in the study area. Land use maps prepared from the study area show that the percentage of rangeland, farmland, garden and residential land uses in 2003 were 84.7%, 12.6%, 0.8% and 1.8%, respectively, and in 2017 it was reached 44.6, 49.5, 3.2 and 2.5%. In other words, in the last 14 years (2003 to 2017), about 16143.5 hectares of rangelands area has been reduced, 14863.9 hectares have been added to farmland, 972.5 hectares to gardens and 307.1 hectares to residential use. In 2003, rangeland use had the highest percentage of area (84.7%) and garden use the lowest percentage of area (0.8%) and in 2017, farmland use had the highest percentage of area (49.5%) and residential use had the lowest percentage of area (2.5%) in the study area, which indicates a significant increase in agricultural growth, including agriculture and horticulture in the study area in recent years. The results showed that in 2003, the very low erosion risk class had the highest percentage of area (41%) and the risk of extreme erosion, the lowest percentage of area (12.2%), and in 2017, the very low erosion risk class has the highest percentage of area (40%) and the risk of extreme erosion class, the lowest percentage of area (29.2%) in the study area. In the study of changes in the erosion zones in the study period in the study area, it was determined that the very low and low erosion class from 2003 to 2017 has been decreasing trend and the rest of the classes have been increasing trend, which indicates an increase in the amount of erosion in the study area.
 
4- Discussion & Conclusions
In a separate analysis of the studied parameters, the results showed that about 80% of the study area has a slope of less than 30%, in this regard, the area should have little soil erosion. The study of vegetation in the study period showed that in 2003, about 8% of the study area has more than 60% vegetation, while in 2017 this amount of vegetation is only about 0.2% of the area. The study concluded that this reduction in vegetation over time could increase the risk of soil erosion. In the study of land use changes, it was found that agricultural and residential use has increased by 37%, and in this regard, it seems that land use changes can also lead to increased soil erosion in the region. Based on the analysis of the interaction of the studied parameters in the preparation of the erosion risk map, it was found that the amount of moderate to extremely severe erosion risk zones has increased by about 20% in the study period in the study area. In soil erosion studies, the risk of erosion usually determines the relative probability of erosion occurring in one site compared to other sites by qualitatively analyzing the interaction of impact factors, Therefore, the results of this study can be a basis for government organizations in order to prioritize the implementation of soil protection activities, allocation of funds and land management. 
 

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Extended abstract
 
1- Introduction
An examination of the number of floods in recent years shows that floods are no longer a rare sudden disaster, but a growing phenomenon that, at any given time, causes a lot of damage, including life and death. As a result of interference in natural environments, the presence of multiple structures, and the lack of appropriate measures to protect these environments, flood conditions are provided. Also, with the rapid growth of urban development and the creation and development of infrastructure, floods in urban areas have become more and more severe. In our country, especially in the southern regions of the country, due to climatic conditions, floods are frequent and harmful. The growing trend of floods in recent years suggests that most of the country's southern cities are at risk of flooding. According to studies, about 40 large and small floods occur in different parts of the country every year. Experimental and managerial experience of different countries shows that the first step in reducing the harmful effects of floods is to identify flooding areas and zoning of these areas in terms of flood risk so that based on the results obtained with integrated management. And comprehensive urban planning prevented the harmful effects of urban floods as much as possible. This study aims at identifying potential flood areas of Bandar Abbas and Bandar Abbas strategic city using GIS, and adapting this map to the development plan of residential areas obtained from LCM model in remote sensing of satellite images as well as determining the flood risk areas.
2-Materials and methods
In this study, two steps have been taken to achieve the desired goals. In the first stage, using five height parameters, slope, land-use, lithology, and river mile have been used as effective parameters in identifying flood-prone areas. After preparing the information layers for each parameter, the layers are standardized using fuzzy logic. After standardizing the layers, a hierarchical analysis model (AHP) was used to weight the layers. After determining the weight of each layer, in the ArcGIS environment, the weight obtained is applied to that layer, and finally, using fuzzy gamma, the information layers are combined, and the final map of flood-prone areas is prepared. In the second phase, satellite imagery from the 1990s, 2000s, 2010, and 2019 was used to assess the development of residential areas to prone to flood-prone areas. After preparing the images, in the ENVI software, first the necessary pre-processing on the images, including radiometric and atmospheric studies, has been done, and then by using the maximum probability method, land-use maps of the study area related to the 1990s, 2000s, prepared in 2010 and 2019, were presented. After preparing the land use maps, IDRISI software and the LCM (Land Change Modeler) software were used to evaluate the trend of land-use change in residential areas.
3-Discussion and results
Evaluation of the final results of flood-prone areas indicates that a large part of the study area has a high flood-rising potential, so based on the results, the class has a very high potential for floods, 88 km² (equivalent to 28.7% of the study area). The study area includes mainly areas close to the river, low-slope, and low-lying areas. Also, the class with a very low potential for flooding includes 24 km² (equivalent to 7.8% of the study area) of the study area, which mainly includes the highlands and the northern slope of the study area. In addition, the results of the assessment of land-use changes indicate that land-use has undergone many changes during the study period, and the use of residential areas has increased. Assessing the trend of changes, shows that the increasing trend of use of residential areas has been due to population growth and construction development. The decrease in the use of vegetation and water area is also due to the development of the use of residential areas, which has caused the destruction of vegetation and the progress towards the coast. Also, the trend of changes in the use of weak pastures and salt marshes has been affected by the development of residential areas and climate change.
4-Conclusion
The results indicate that the study area has a high potential for flooding, so that about 170 km² of the study area (equivalent to 55% of the study area) have a high and very high flood potential these areas mainly include low-slope and low-lying areas of the urban area and the suburbs of Bandar Abbas. Therefore, in terms of used parameters, the city of Bandar Abbas has a high potential for flooding. Also, in this research, the trend of land-use changes and residential areas of the study area has been evaluated. According to the results, the use of residential areas (including residential areas and man-made areas) has grown so much that in 1990, this area was 32.2 km², which in 2000 to 42.9, and in 2010 it increased to 55.7 km² and in 2019 to 77.4 km². Assessing the spatial trend of land use changes indicates that a large part of the residential area has moved to areas prone to flooding. According to the results, in 1990, 14.2 km² of residential areas were located on the potential floor of many floods, which in 2000 to 16.4, in 2010 to 21.9 and in 2019, it has increased to 28.1 km². Therefore, it can be said that in recent years, a large part of the residential areas has moved to flood-prone areas.