The prevailing and strong north-westerly wind in Kuwait during summer is consistently causing a significant movement of aeolian sediment that poses serious environmental and economic threats. The average removal costs per cubic metre for aeolian encroachments around desert infrastructures in Kuwait increased from USD 1.2 to USD 1.32, respectively, representing one of the highest expenses in the region in 1993 and 2013. Correspondingly, morphological properties of aeolian deposits around 15 dominant species of native plants were determined, after which, the cost saving per plant was calculated equivalent to the cubic metre removal cost. Nitraria retusa, Lycium shawii, Haloxylon salicornicum, and Calligonum polygonoides trapped the maximum mobile aeolian sediments up to 21.9, 15.5, 14.5, and 13.3 m3, respectively, which make them the most efficient solutions for present and future applications in controlling aeolian processes. Aeolian activities were monitored during the establishment stage of 110,000 of these effective native plants in the Liyah protected area and green belts of Moringa pterygosperma in the Kabd area. It was noted that native plants had a positive effect as they captured about 115 t of aeolian sediments, thus saving USD 151800 as estimated removal cost of these accumulations all around human settlements. Native plants and green belts have also contributed to the reduction in the annual rates of mobile sand by 94 and 95.3%, and dust by 64.5 and 68.4%, respectively.

Environmental and economic importance of native plants and green belts in controlling mobile sand and dust hazards

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/16583655.2020.1761662

Cost and effect of native vegetation change on aeolian sand, dust, microclimate and sustainable energy in Kuwait

Forecasting PM2.5 concentration using artificial neural network and its health effects in Ahvaz, Iran.

In this study, the trend of southwestern Asia’s rainfall (4152 stations) was investigated in two annual and monthly scales during the statistical period of 1970–2014 using non-parametric Mann–Kendall test with complete removal of the self-correlation structure. The results of the study of annual rainfall’s trend in South West Asia indicated that of the studied countries, the trend of rainfall in two countries, namely Iraq and Iran, was more critical than other countries and showed an approximate drop of 1.2 and 1.03 mm, respectively, in total annual rainfall year on year. All the regions of these two countries were studied and showed a declining trend of rainfall on an annual scale, and due to the rainfall shortage, these countries can be considered to be facing crisis. The results of annual and seasonal rainfall distribution in the studied area showed that, apart from winter, all of the studied scales during the period of 2005–2014 have shown a regular distribution of rainfall from 1970 to 1997, which is due to the declining trend in monthly rainfall and changes that reduce the monthly rainfall as a result of the regular distribution of rainfall between seasons and years. Moreover, the results indicated that in winter, rainfall distribution in Iran and its eastern neighbors were more irregular during the statistical period of the study, which could be the result of a rainfall disorder affecting these countries in the past decade. The irregular distribution of rainfall causes rainfall to be unevenly distributed across the seasons, which will then cause extreme rainfall.

Annual and seasonal distribution pattern of rainfall in Iran and neighboring regions

Wind and solar assisted ship propulsion optimisation and its application to a bulk carrier

During the last few decades, the inland and coastal aeolian landforms of southern Kuwait showed severe land degradation and deterioration of plant cover due to human impacts such as spring camping, offroad driving and overgrazing. This study aimed to quantify the edaphic conditions and vegetation composition of the main types of aeolian landforms in the southern desert of Kuwait and to investigate the effects of vegetation, climate, physiography and impacts of anthropogenic activities on the features and stability of aeolian sand deposits and subsequently land degradation and vegetation loss. This study classified the southern aeolian deposits into four main landforms: inland active sand sheets, inland stable sand sheets, coastal stable sand sheets and coastal stable sabkhas. These landforms are mostly influenced with soil texture, moisture content, organic matter, salinity, vegetation cover, wind strength and intensity of land use. A total of 46 plant species in 23 families was found in these landforms. Poaceae species dominated the vegetation of inland active and stable sand sheets; however Asteraceae and Chenopodiacea species dominated the vegetation of coastal stable sand sheets and coastal sabkhas. Therefore, the growth of these species in hot deserts is adaptive to the accumulation of wind-borne sediments within or around their canopies. Annuals and perennial herbs were the dominant growth forms in the aeolian landforms. The Shannon-diversity of the plant species was lower at inland stable sand sheets than at inland active sand sheets, coastal stable sand sheets and coastal stable sabkhas. The dominant perennials were Cyperus conglomeratus, Stipagrostis ciliata and Moltkiopsis ciliata at inland aeolian landforms, and Zygophyllum qatarense, Salsola imbricate, Suaeda aegyptiaca, Cyperus conglomeratus and Launaea mucronata, Suaeda vermiculata, Lycium shawii and Halocnemum strobilaceum at coastal aeolian landforms. The dominant annuals were Schismus barbatus at inland aeolian landforms and Polycarpaea repens, Schismus barbatus, and Cornulaca aucheri at coastal aeolian landforms. Deterioration of plant cover, decline in sub-shrubs and shrubs, lacking of trees and severe land degradation in the inland and coastal aeolian landforms of southern Kuwait are attributed to human impacts. Effective management plan for human activities and restoration program for degraded aeolian landforms may include prohibitions of human activities that adversely affect native plant communities, planting of certain native perennial species efficient in trapping sands and stabilization of aeolian landforms, such as Poaceae species and Chenopodiaceae species. In addition, awareness programs and participation of local inhabitants are crucial measures to guarantee successful of restoration plan.

A. R. Al-Rashed

Papers

Influences of Physiographic Factors, Vegetation Patterns and Human Impacts on Aeolian Landforms in Arid Environment