Journal of Ecohydrology

Journal of Ecohydrology

Investigating the role of different land uses in nitrate changes in groundwater (Case study: Sirjan plain, Kerman, Iran)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors
Alireza Shahsavari Pour 1
Alijan Abkar 2
Hamzeh Saeediyan 2
1 Senior expert in watershed management in agricultural jihad management of Sirjan city
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research, Kerman Agricultural and Natural Resource Research Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Kerman, Iran
10.22059/ije.2024.366868.1767
Abstract
Groundwater pollution is severely affected by different land uses, so that it is created widespread contamination in different areas in groundwater and endangers the health of human, livestock and other living organisms. In this study, the nitrate content of 55 water sources in Sirjan plain aquifer was investigated. Then, 5 types of land use were identified in Sirjan plain. Then, the polygon of Sirjan plain was mapped based on 5 types of land use to determine the role of each land use in the amount of groundwater nitrate in Sirjan plain. Then the amount of area and nitrate of different land uses were divided into 7 classes. The results showed that range land use in Sirjan plain has the highest level in aquifer and the lowest level of planting forests in Sirjan plain aquifer. Considering the minimum and maximum nitrate distance in Sirjan plain, the results showed that range land use has a lot of nitrate spatial variability compared to other land uses, and industrial land use has the least spatial variation in nitrate compared to other uses. In general, according to the mean amount of nitrate in Sirjan plain aquifer, the results showed that the minimum nitrate mean in different land uses of Sirjan plain is related to agricultural land use with 7.53 ppm and the maximum nitrate mean in different land uses of Sirjan plain is related to industrial land use with 10.24 ppm and the average nitrate level in planted forests, range and residential land uses with small changes is between agricultural and industrial land uses. In general, among all nitrate classes in Sirjan plain, the results showed that range land use has the highest percentage of land area, and industrial and planted forests land uses have the lowest percentage of land area.
Keywords
Keywords: Land use
Sirjan plain
Nitrate content
Groundwater
Subjects
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Journal of Ecohydrology
Volume 10, Issue 3
Autumn 2023
Pages 435-447

  • Receive Date 23 September 2023
  • Revise Date 23 October 2023
  • Accept Date 22 November 2023
  • First Publish Date 12 December 2023
  • Publish Date 12 December 2023