مشخصات پژوهش

Earth processes like wind erosion and dust production play an important role in arid and semiarid regions, which can lead to increased soil salinity and decreased plant productivity (Lal, 1990). Dust consists mostly of small, fine particles that are typically from desert and arid areas due to low humidity, low vegetation coverage, and lack of soil cements. This results in weak and small soil aggregates that can easily be detached and transported by wind. Studies have revealed that dust from dry lakes and playas can be a major source of airborne particles in the world. These particles can contain large amounts of harmful chem- icals and other pollutants, which can cause health problems for people who breathe them in. On the other hand, the salinization of groundwater in specific re-gions near Saline Lake and the use of saline water in irrigation have led to the secondary sali-nization of gricultural lands. Therefore, agricultural farms are becoming more economically unbeneficial for farmers, resulting in abandoning their lands. In such barren areas, soil aggre-gates are small due to their years of breakdown by miss-tillage practices along with a lack of soil organic matter, which is the major soil aggregating agent. Therefore, these areas (such as the Urmia Lake basin in Iran) are of great potential in becoming dust sources.