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Multi-element analysis in historical sites is a major issue in archaeological studies; however, this approach is almost unknown among Iranian scholars. Geochemical multi-element analysis of soil is very important to evaluate anthropogenic activities. The aim of this study consists of assessing the potential usefulness of multi-elemental soil analysis, obtained by Analytical Jena atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) and ICP-MS, to recognize ancient anthropogenic features on the territory of Tappe Rivi (North Khorasan, Iran). For that purpose, a total of 80 ancient soil samples were sampled from each soil horizon and cultural layer. The research involved Fe, Al, Cd, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr, Pb, and P which trace element samples were extracted according to the International Standard ISO 11466 and phosphorus samples by Olsen method. Besides, the contamination of the soils was assessed based on enrichment factors (EFs) by using Fe as a reference element. This geochemical/archaeological approach highlights that the content of most elements in the Parthian and Sassanid ages were significantly higher than the contents of the elements in other zones, which shows that by the development of the eras, the content of the elements has also increased. Also, the accumulation of metals in the Rivi site was significantly higher than in the control area. Among the sampled zones, enrichment factor (EF) indicated that the enrichment of Cu and phosphate at the Parthian and Sassanid had the highest content. This result is important because it shows that the amount of metals and human activities are directly related to each other during different ages.

Urmia Lake has been known as the second hypersaline lake in the world, with the surface area of approximately 5200 km

Background: Application of air quality models in Health Risk Assessment system has been defined as an effective tool in assess the human population exposure to environmental harmful factors. The present study was conducted to aim of health risk assessment of respiratory exposure to PM10 Emitted from Depos of primary materials and waste a number of Non-metallic minerals industries by Modeling method. Methods: In this descriptive study, first to Field visits and laboratory measurements was obtained the information needed for SWEEP model to estimate PM10 emission rate from depos of Tile and Ceramic, Khak-e-chini and glass industries. Then, with the introduction of meteorological information to AERMET, the digital elevation model to AERMAP, the emission rate and the geometric dimensions of the pollutant sources to AERMOD, simulated the values of exposure to PM10 in the affected population. The chemical composition of the depos was determined using ICP-MS. Subsequently, using the EPA suggested relationships was estimated the risk of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic exposure to PM10. Results: According to the simulation results of SWEEP model, the highest PM10 emission was estimated for the Tile and Ceramic depo. The highest concentration maximum of 1, 8, and 24 h of PM10 simulated were 8840, 1967, and 1272 µg/m3, respectively. The highest average respiratory exposure of 1 (52.53), 8 (11.64), 24 (5.85 µg/m3) hour to PM10 was estimated for Sand and Gravel processing plant staff. The highest percentage of chemical compounds in depos was for silica. Accordingly, the carcinogenicity risk (ILCR) of exposure to PM10 was predicted less than 10-4 and non- carcinogenicity risk (HQ) less than one. Conclusion: Although numerical values of risk were predicted in the permissible limit, but to creating Surface rock on the depo industries can reduce the emission of PM10.

Background: In developing countries, air pollution caused by industries constitutes a serious threat to public health. The present study was conducted to determine the dispersion patern and assess the health risks of PM10 emitted from the stacks of a ceramic and tile factory. Materials and Methods: The present descriptive-cross sectional study was performed on a tile and ceramic industry in Ardakan, Yazd, Iran. The stacks emission information and meteorological and topographical data were first prepared to run the AERMOD model and draw the disperesion patern and evaluate exposure to PM10. The simulated concentrations were then compared to EPA and WHO standards, and carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks of exposure to PM10 were calculated using the formulas proposed by EPA. Results: The results showed unifrom PM10 dispersion in all directions given the flat modeling area. The simulated maximum PM10 concentrations were found to be higher than the maxium thresholds stipulated in both the standards for a 24-hour period and higher than the WHO thresholds on an annual basis. In contrast, the average daily and annual concentrations were found to be below the standard limits. The results of assessing both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks were therefore estimated to be acceptable. Conclusion: Although the present study calculated the contribution of the study factory’s stacks to carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks as acceptable, the cumulative effects of industries in Ardakan can increase these risks in the villages surrounding these industries.

Background: The release of metals from industrial factories is one of the most important sources ofenvironmental pollution. The present study aimed to determine the concentration of heavy metals likecadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) in dust around the cementfactory.Methods: A total of 22 dust samples were collected from areas around the cement factory in Isfahanprovince in spring and summer and transferred to laboratory for chemical digestion. Risk index (RI),integrated pollution index (IPI), mean of contamination degree (mCd), and contamination factor (Cfi)were calculated to determine the contamination status.Results: The concentration of heavy metals in the falling dust around the factory was expressed as Cd

Background: The phenomenon of dust is a serious environmental problem in dry and semi dry regions. It has a destructive effect for the residents of such regions. Over two-thirds of Iran is in areas of dry and semi-dry climate conditions. Methods: In this research, dust fall measurements were taken in 41 stations across Yazd city using a marble dust collector (MDCO) located in different parts of the city. Next, the chemical characteristics of dust were determined using the XRF method. Finally, levels of dust fall across the 4 seasons of the year and status of the constituent elements of dust were determined through ArcGIS software and the Kriging technique. The Raster calculator function was used to make determinations of the effects of dust fall at each of the stations over the course of the year. Remote sensing system, along with maps taken from Landsat and the band combination technique were processed using ENVI software to extract vegetation density and building density maps of the studied region. Results: Results showed that spring had the highest level of dust fall with a value of 200 g/cm2. In total, in 109 km2 of the studied region had average dust fall of 110 g/m2 that contributed to 12 057 tons of dust over Yazd city in 2015. The constituent elements of the dust fall according to decreasing amounts were as follows: Si>Ca>Al>C>Mg>Fe>K>Na>S>Ti>Cl>P>Mn>Sr>Zn. Conclusion: These results indicate accuracy of the Kriging technique for application in dust zoning. The factors of vegetation and green space were determined as effective on adsorbing dust. Increased building density and height of buildings also contributed to development of dust fall. Keywords: ArcGIS, ENVI, Remote sensing, Air pollution, Dust fall, Zoning

Soil erosion is undoubtedly one of the most important problems in natural areas of Iran and has destructive effects on different ecosystems. Considering that calculation of the sediment rate in sediment stations and direct measurements of erosion process is costly and difficult, it is critical to find ways to accurately estimate the amount of sediment yield in catchments especially in arid and hyper arid areas because of their high ecological sensitivity. One of the most commonly used methods in these areas is the sediment rating regression method. Therefore, in this study sediment observed data for 48 events (the corresponding discharge and sediment) in a 23-year period from Fkhrabad basin (Mehriz) were compared to the estimated data obtained from Multi-line rating method, extent middle class, middle class rating curve with correction factor QMLE, SMEARING correction coefficient FAO and Artificial Neural networks (ANNs). Finally, the accuracy of these methods were assessed using different evaluation criteria such as Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), coefficient of determination (R2) and the standard Nash (ME). Results showed that ANN outperformed the other methods with the RMSE, R2 and ME of 203.3, 0.86 and 0.66, respectively. The results suggest that these methods should be used cautiously in estimating the suspended sediment load in arid and hyper arid regions due to the nature of the observed data and temporal and seasonal flow systems in these regions. It was also indicated that the artificial neural network models have higher flexibility than other methods which makes them to be useful tools for modeling in poor data conditions.

Understanding the erosion dynamics and recognizing sensitive times and places to erosion within the catchment are necessary for erosion control. The seasonal and spatial variability of soil erosion under different contrasting lithologic conditions was studied in Vartavan catchment of Qazvin province of Iran. For this purpose, sediment trappers and erosion pins were placed in each parent material unit and were monitored at the end of each season. The results showed that the erosion rate of Vartavan catchment has large variations spatially and temporally. Based on the average weight of sediments in trappers, soil erosion rate is reduced correspondingly in units of light tuff (178.2 g), black shale (34.4 g), red mudstone (29.9 g), andesite (21.7 g), dark tuff (16.7 g), sandstone (14.9 g), red sandstone (9.8 g), shale limestone (9.5 g), and eventually orbitolina limestone (6.5 g). The seasonal variation of erosion revealed that autumn has the maximum rate of erosion (71 %) which then decreases during the spring (19 %) and winter (10 %) until it reaches the minimum rate in summer. Understanding seasonal variations and identifying the critical months when the most amount of erosion occurs are essential for outlining soil conservation plans in specific lithological units.

The purpose of this study is to know about the short period response of three green area plants to deposit of dust on the plants and impact on their physiological characteristics. In recent decade, the number of dusty days increased in some parts of Iran because of drought and erosive wind blowing on erodible lands. In this study, three species of Pinus eldarica, Cupressus sempervirens, and Ligustrum ovalifolium were selected. The amount of cumulative falling dust of 1, 2, and 4 g/cm2 was deposited on samples using a dust simulator in three stages with time interval of 1 week. At the end of each stage, physiological characteristics of the three treatment seedlings and three control seedlings were measured from each species. To further investigate the effect of dust, the position of dust on the leaves of the three plant species was prepared by Scanner Electronic Microscopic (SEM). Measurement results show that dust increase has no significant effect on the physiological parameters of proline, chlorophyll and carotenoids, and soluble sugar of P. eldarica and C. sempervirens species. But two mechanisms have been used by L. ovalifolium plants to compensate for the lack of light absorption. This has increased chlorophyll content and its growth. Increasing dust in L. ovalifolium has significant effect on chlorophyll and morphological structures, such as stem length and number of leaves. The results also showed that the amount of soluble sugars did not change by increasing dust. Since the impact of growth factors in this study showed a significant increase with increase of dust, one can conclude that the soluble sugars from photosynthesis have been used for the structure of the three studied plants. According to the study, short period dusting have no effect on P. eldarica and C. sempervirens species but have significant effect on L. ovalifolium.

Background: The chemical and physical quality of water used for dialysis fluid is a vital factor in the patients overall care who receive dialysis. Therefore, the water used for this purpose must be treated with advanced methods before being used for dialysis. Objectives: The current study aimed to determine the chemical and physical quality of dialysis machines input water and compare it to the standards of Association for the advancement of medical instrumentation (AAMI) and European Pharmacopeia (EPh) in Yazd educational hospitals, i.e. Shahid Sadoughi and Shahid Dr. Rahnamoon. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study is performed in three months (October to December) in 2013. This research was conducted on 24 samples of dialysis machines input water. The samples were tested by titrimetric method, turbid metric method, flame photometer, pH meter, and EC meter. The SPSS V16.0 software was used for statistical analyses. Results: Based on results of the research, except chloride that its mean concentration was higher than the EPh standard, mean concentrations of cations and other compounds were significantly less than the standards (P < 0.01). Also there was a significant difference between the measured parameters in the dialysis machines input water in two educational hospitals with 99% confidence. Conclusions: The evaluation of hemodialysis water quality showed that these hospitals were not significantly polluted and the water quality complied with AAMI and EPh standard limits.