Estimate Erosion in Ladiz Dam in Sistan and Baluchistan with Use of Trace Minerals—South East Iran

Abstract

A survey uses this new information: the statistical calculation and interpretation to determine the characteristics of sediments in the reservoir’s “Dodar Ladiz” dam. It is a useful and efficient way to use clay minerals as mineral tracer for identifying the sources and assessing erosion rate in the Dodar Ladiz dam watershed in a statistical method. The existence of four main clay minerals includes Kaolinite, Montmorillonite, Illite and Chlorite. The estimated watershed erosion rate is 2220.64 tons per square kilometer per year. Data ANOVA table in the inter/intra group communication of the clay minerals in the Dodar Ladiz dam watershed samples is shown by F-test statistics; there is a significant difference between the frequency of clay minerals in the samples with 95% confidence rate (P value < 0.05). Therefore, they can be divided into six groups. The average rates of the clay minerals are not equal in any of homogeneous hydrological reservoir units of the dam. Kruskal-Wallis test shows that the rate of frequency of Iolite mineral is identical among all samples of the hydrologic units and the dam reservoir; this mineral cannot be used as a tracer to identify the source. Reviewing the obtained data from statistical tests and studying clay minerals as a trace in determining the rate of degradation of upstream catchment “Dodar Ladiz” dam, it shows that the maximum annual erosion rate is 994.85 tons per sq/km, in the basin A within a 105.13 square kilometers area. Among the most important factors involving erosion and production of basin sediments, we can refer to lithology as the most critical factor and tectonic features, topography and climate as minor factors.