Tracking of sea level impact on Caspian Ramsar sites and potential restoration of the Gorgan Bay on the southeast Caspian coast

Lahijani, Hamid; Azizpour, Jafar; Arpe, Klaus; Behrouz, Abtahi; Rahnama, Reza; Ghafarian, Parvin; Hamzeh, Mohammad Ali; Hamzehpour, Ali; Penchah, Mohammadreza Mohammadpour; Mahmoudof, Seyed Masoud

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158833

Cited by 10 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 82 publications

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“…If the Caspian Sea Level drops more than what happened during the past century, all south Caspian sites would face desiccation. Restoration measures would improve wetland condition, but more durable result requires management beyond the Gorgan Bay, i.e., in the catchment and coastal area for reducing human pressuren(Lahijani, H, et al, 2023).…”

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Sedimentological and geochemical characterization of the sediments in the south of Gorgan Bay

Kiani,

Lak,

Haftani

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Gorgan Bay, located southeast of the Caspian Sea, has an area of 358 km2. This bay is connected with the Caspian Sea through the Ashooradeh-Chopoqli channels. The purpose of this research is to determine the water level fluctuation of the Caspian Sea with the physical and chemical characteristics of the sediments. for this purpose, sedimentological and statistical parameters were done. So field surveys were conducted to control remote sensing observations. A sedimentary core with maximum depth of 37 cm was taken using a PVC tube. A total of 7 sediment samples from the target core and 2 surface sediment samples were collected and analyzed. Sediments were separated based on texture, type of sediments, organic matter, color, and presence of plant and shell residues. Sampling was done based on changes in the sediment type and sedimentary facies. Grain size distribution of the particles equal to or greater than sand was performed using a wet sieve shaker, while smaller particles (silt and clay) were graded by a laser particle sizer. Next, the statistical parameters of sedimentology were calculated and analyzed in the SPSS software. Elemental analysis was carried out using an Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) device in the laboratory of the Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration of Iran. The results show that sedimentation in the bay increase with a decrease in the sea level, flow intensity and energy, slope, and depth. As a coastal sedimentary basin, Gorgan Bay is highly dependent on the Caspian Sea. However, large parts of these connection channels of the bay have dried up due to the seawater level decline. As a result, the water depth at the boundary of the channels has dropped to less than 50 cm, especially in the Chopoqli channel, which today is a marshy area covered with halophytic vegetation. Fluctuations in the Caspian Sea level have affected the morphology of coastal sediments in Gorgan Bay and have led to significant changes during sea level decline. According to sedimentology, sedimentary facies, and sedimentary geochemistry studies, at least two periods of sea level rise and two periods of sea level fall were identified in the studied core.

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