Environmental assessment of desertification in Shahr Isfahan watershed using Medalos model and remote sensing data.

Subject Areas :

mohammad ebrahim afifi ¹ , khali alinejad ² , Marziyeh Mogholi ³

1 - Assistant Professor of Islamic Azad University, Larestan branch
2 - Ph.D student of Geography, Islamic Azad University, Larestan branch
3 - faculty member Department of Geography, Larestan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Larestan, Iran

Received: 2022-12-17 Accepted : 2023-03-11 Published : 2023-03-19

Keywords: Desertification, Isfahan city, remote sensing, Medalos,

Abstract :

Destruction of the land is a global process that ultimately leads to a decrease in soil fertility, and if we consider its concept as a kind of instability and imbalance in the relationship between man and the environment, it should be accepted that a large part of the world and the country of Iran are dealing with this environmental problem. is facing Dealing with the phenomenon of land destruction and desertification requires evaluating and monitoring the type and intensity of land destruction, determining the causes of the destruction, and taking necessary measures to face the problem, as well as checking the integrity of the projects mentioned. Remote sensing technology has a very valuable role in the evaluation and monitoring of land degradation and desertification in local, regional and global scales and has led to the creation of a new approach in studies related to the evaluation and monitoring of desertification. Considering the importance of the destruction issue, in this study, an attempt was made to evaluate the desertification of Isfahan watershed by using remote sensing data and Medalos model. In the first step, based on the situation of the region, six parameters of climate, soil, vegetation, underground water and management and policy were considered to evaluate the amount of destruction. The indices were quantified based on their effect on the destruction process and each of them was given a score between 0.5 and 1.5 according to the fuzzy method, and they were studied in the pixel scale. The obtained results indicate that 4% of the area is in the mild category, 10% of the area is in the moderate category, and 86% of the area is in the severe category of desertification. In terms of the range's sensitivity to destruction, 4% of the total area of the range is in the potential class, 22% in the fragile class A, 50% in the fragile class B, 20% in the fragile class C and 3% in the critical class. Therefore, about 92% of the area of the region is in the fragile layer.