The Soils of Iran

257 Pages·2018·24.86 MB·English

by  Mohammad Hassan Roozitalab

World Soils Book Series
Mohammad Hassan Roozitalab
Hamid Siadat
Abbas Farshad E ditors
The Soils of Iran
World Soils Book Series
Series editor
Prof. Alfred E. Hartemink
Department of Soil Science, FD Hole Soils Laboratory
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Madison
USA
The World Soils Book Series publishes books containing details on soils of a particular
country. They include sections on soil research history, climate, geology, geomorphology,
major soil types, soil maps, soil properties, soil classification, soil fertility, land use and
vegetation, soil management, soils and humans, soils and industry, future soil issues. The
bookssummarizewhatisknownaboutthesoilsinaparticularcountryinaconciseandhighly
reader-friendly way. The series contains both single and multi-authored books as well as
edited volumes. There is additional scope for regional studies within the series, particularly
when covering large land masses (for example, The Soils of Texas, The Soils of California),
however, these will be assessed on an individual basis.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8915
Mohammad Hassan Roozitalab
Hamid Siadat Abbas Farshad
(cid:129)
Editors
The Soils of Iran
123
Editors
Mohammad Hassan Roozitalab Abbas Farshad
Soil andWater Research Institute ITC
Tehran University of Twente
Iran Enschede
TheNetherlands
HamidSiadat
Soil andWater Research Institute
Tehran
Iran
ISSN 2211-1255 ISSN 2211-1263 (electronic)
World Soils BookSeries
ISBN978-3-319-69046-9 ISBN978-3-319-69048-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69048-3
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017954492
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Preface
Iran has a long history of ancient civilizations and a rich traditional knowledge in domesti-
cating wild plants and using soil and water resources for production offood, feed, and fiber.
ThedevelopmentofearlysoilknowledgeintheIranianhistorygoesbacktotheAchaemenid
dynasty in 550 BC. However, the modern and formal scientific attempt to conduct soil
researchandstudiesin thecountry was inthe early 1950s inconjunction withmodernization
of agriculture sector and construction of big dams.
In 1964, the first English book on soils of Iran and the accompanied maps at a scale of
1:2,500,000waspublishedafterseveralyearsoffieldstudiesandsoilcharacterizationthrough
thejointcollaborationbetweenSoilInstituteofIranandFAO.Sincethen,soilsurveyprojects
havebeenconductedinmanyregions,andsoilmapsatreconnaissanceandsemi-detailedscale
of 1:50,000 are available for most of the agricultural plains. Moreover, the land resource and
potentiality maps at the scale of 1:250,000 have been prepared for all the provinces. In
addition, universities and research institutes have carried out many studies and research
projects on different aspects and properties of soils in different regions of the country. In
addition,SoilandWaterResearchInstitutemadeaninitiativetoprepareanewsoilmapofthe
countryatascaleof1:1000,000usingremotesensingandgeographicinformationsystem.The
project was completed in 2000 after several years of field works under the leadership of a
prominent soil scientist, Mohammad Hassan Banaei (1938–2005).
In this initiative to prepare a new book on soils of Iran for publishing worldwide by
Springer International Publishing AG, we have benefited from the valuable contribution of
many distinguished scientists from various universities and institutions in and outside of Iran
who accepted our invitation to prepare the various chapters of the book. Without their deep
dedication and valuable support, we certainly could not fulfill our mission to prepare this
comprehensive book on soils of Iran. We are highly indebted and grateful to these distin-
guishedcolleaguesandfriendswhokindlyacceptedourinvitationtojointhisnobleendeavor.
Unfortunately, during the preparation of the book, one of our distinguished colleagues and
friends, Prof. Najafali Karimian (1943–2015), who is the lead author of the chapter on soil
fertility (Chap. 10), passed away in March 2015. He was a respected professor at the Shiraz
University and a prominent soil scientist. Prof. Karimian made a great contribution to the
advancement of soil fertility and plant nutrition in the country.
ThisbookprovidesawiderangeofinformationonthesoilsofIran.Preparationofthebook
alsoinitiatedorganizationofafewscientificmeetingintheformofworkshopsattheSoiland
Water Research Institute (SWRI), or as discussion/consultation meeting at the Iranian Soil
ScienceSociety(ISSS),wheresoil-relatedtopicsandsomeapplicationofnewtechniqueswere
presented. The main target groups and beneficiaries of this book are soil, water, geography,
andenvironmentalscientists,planners,andpolicymakers,international,regional,andnational
institutionsaswellasgraduatestudentsofsoil,earthsciences,geography,andenvironmental
sciences working and interested in the soil resources of Iran.
We highly hope that publication of this book shall contribute to the dissemination of
informationandadvancementofknowledgeonsoilresourcesofIranandleadtostrengthening
collaboration among various stakeholders and beneficiaries. It is also our intent to encourage
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vi Preface
andpromoteregionalandinternationalcollaborationwiththelocalscientistsandorganizations
for generating suitable technologies to use and manage soil resources of the country in a
sustainablemannerandtomeetthechallengesaheadsuchasclimatechange,landdegradation,
and water scarcity.
Tehran, Iran Mohammad Hassan Roozitalab
Tehran, Iran Hamid Siadat
Enschede, The Netherlands Abbas Farshad
Contents
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Mohammad Hassan Roozitalab, Hamid Siadat, and Abbas Farshad
2 History of Soil Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Mohammad Reza Balali, Hamid Siadat, and Mohammad Hassan Roozitalab
3 Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Ali Khalili and Jaber Rahimi
4 Geology and Geomorphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Mostafa Karimian Eghbal, Nikoo Hamzehpour, and Mohammad Hady Farpoor
5 Vegetation and Land Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Ali Farzaneh and Morteza Ebrahimi Rastaghi
6 Soil-Forming Factors and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Farhad Khormali and Norair Toomanian
7 Major Soils, Properties, and Classification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Mohammad Hassan Roozitalab, Norair Toomanian,
Vahid Reza Ghasemi Dehkordi, and Farhad Khormali
8 Paleosols and Past Climate Change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Martin Kehl and Farhad Khormali
9 Agroecological Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Eddy De Pauw, Vahid R. Ghasemi Dehkordi, and Abdolali Ghaffari
10 Soil Fertility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Najafali Karimian and Mohammad Mehdi Tehrani
11 Soil Biology and Biotechnology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Hossein Besharati, Nasser Aliasgharzad, Kazem
Khavazi, and Hadi Asadi Rahmani
12 Human-Induced Land Degradation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Abbas Farshad, Ebrahim Pazira, and Ali Akbar Noroozi
13 Land Management in Space and Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Abbas Farshad, Mohammad Hassan Roozitalab,
and Mohammad Reza Jalal Kamali
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viii Contents
14 Soil Resources of Iran: Challenges and Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Hamid Siadat, Mohammad Hassan Roozitalab, and Abbas Farshad
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
About the Editors
Dr. Mohammad Hassan Roozitalab, Ph.D. is a distinguished soil
scientist with a wide range of scientific and working experiences
in Iran and abroad. He received his M.Sc. (1974) and Ph.D.
(1978) from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma,
USA. His major research and teaching activities at Tehran
University have focused mainly on soil genesis and classification
and clay mineralogy. He has contributed to the advancement of
soil science in Iran as President of Soil Science Society for
17 years from 1992 to 2009 and Director General of Soil and
Water Research Institute from 1983 to 1995. Dr. Roozitalab also
served as Deputy Head of Agricultural Research, Education and
Extension Organization (AREEO) in Iran from 1995 to 2006. He
has contributed to strengthening the regional and global agricul-
tural research collaboration as President of Association of Agri-
cultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa,
AARINENA (1998–2000), Coordinator of Regional Highland
Research Network of ICARDA (2008–2011), and Chairman
oftheGlobalForumonAgriculturalResearch(GFAR)from2002
to 2006.
Dr. Hamid Siadat, Ph.D. is a distinguished soil scientist and
editor-in-chiefoftwoscientificperiodicalsinIran:JournalofSoil
Research and Journal of Water Research in Agriculture. He is a
retiredresearchprofessorandhasbeenaninvitedprofessoratThe
Academy of Sciences, Islamic Republic of Iran for more than
20 years, and a member of the recently formed Council of
Luminaries in Agricultural Research, Education and Extension
Organization. He served as Deputy Director General of Soil and
Water Research Institute from 1983 to 1995. His main field of
expertise is soil–water–plant relationship.
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