Identification and Characterization of Dust Source in Khorasan Razavi Province

Background and Amis: One of the phenomena in arid and semi-arid regions is dust storm. Dust is one of the environmental issues that affect the quality and pollution of the air, human health, soil fertility, visibility, economy, and many social and environmental aspects of the community. The present research has been carried out to identify and characterize the areas of dust source in Khorasan Razavi province during the period (2005-2016). Methodology: In this research identified 65 dust source in case study with use MODIS image. Then, the characteristics of these points were studied in terms of soil, slope, elevation, vegetation index (NDVI), lithology and land use. Findings: The results of the characteristics of dust sources showed that 63 percent of the points in the land use area were located at the levels related to the poor pastures (23 points) and dry land (18 points). In the slope layer, 43.07 percent of the points are located on the 0-2 percent floor and in the soil layer 49.2 percent of the points are on the floor of the Eridisol, which includes 39.2 percent of the area of the area. In the NDVI layer, 98.4 the percentage of points that cover about 99% of the area of the area is related to the non-vegetation section, and in the layer related to the elevation points, 90% of the points (60 points) are located in the altitudinal area of 0-1500. In relation to the lithology of the region, discontinuous sedimentary units with an area of 49.56 are about 66.15% of the points. Conclusion:The results indicate that most of the dust source areas are located in weak pasture land use and rainy land with erosive soil and lithology that has poor vegetation cover.