Developing an USACE method to rehabilitate Hour-al-Azim marsh and dust management

Hour-al-Azim marsh is one of the most significant wetlands of the Mesopotamia watershed. In the past few years, severe environmental and hydrological stress have caused the loss of a large part of its area and its bed has become the largest focal point of haze in the southwestern of Iran. Determining delineation is one of the most important and necessary measures to protect a wetland's ecosystem and, in this study, delineation was determined using the USACE-R-G method. This method is a combination of ecological and hydrological criteria with a Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System. The results showed that under the first scenario the marsh is about 3,279 km2 which about 882 square kilometers constitute free-water surface and its average depth is 2.4 meters. In the second scenario, these numbers were estimated to be 1,619 km2 with an average depth of 2.7 meters. Moreover, the area of the haze focus is about 1,659 km2. As well as this, under these conditions the amount of water required to submerge the marsh is 7.9 in the first scenario and 4.4 billion cubic meters in the second one.