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International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.22, 173-177
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
175
Table 2 Frequency characteristic of sand dunes in southern coastal provinces of the Caspian Sea
Total frequency %
Frequency percent %
Sand dunes length (Km) Beach zone length (Km) Coastal provinces
0
0
0
110
Golestan
11
19
98
505
Mazandaran
6
22
56
250
Gilan
18
41
154
865
Total coasts of Caspian Sea
monitoring and the comparison of satellite images
indicate that the study area could be classified
according to presence of sand dunes, extent of damage
or total destruction.
So along the 865 km coastal strip in the southern
coasts of the Caspian Sea there is just 156 kilometers
discontinuously sand dunes (Table 2). Sand dunes
totally have been damaged in the west part of central
zone of Mazandaran especially between Neka to Noor.
Also they are injured in the eastern part of Mazandaran
in Amirabad complex zone (Figure 1). There is only
45 kilometers pristine and untouched sand dune along
the study area which was located in Miankaleh
territory. Discontinuity sand dunes have 28 kilometer
length and 73 kilometers of beach area have been
cleaned from sand dune by human impact. Therefore
there is not any sand dune in 607 km of study area that
it is equal 75 percent of beach zones of the Caspian
Sea those are without natural protection index. Also
final results show that more than 35 percent of sand
dunes have been eroded and destructed by rapid sea
level changing and land use improvement during
1983-2004 years.
2.2 Erosion vulnerability degree
The results of processing the digital data in a universal
ranking system erodible sand dunes show that the total
length of 865 km of the Caspian Sea coastline is beach
Figure 1 Sand dunes erosion by human impact and Rapid sea
level changing in the Amirabad
zone with 376 km length qualified as high vulnerability
to erosion. This figure is equivalent to 46.6% of the
entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea. Only about
14 percent of the coastal areas are not vulnerable,
including 111 km of the southern coast of the Caspian
Sea (Table 1). Also as it is understood the vulnerability
of coastal areas of west Mazandaran, Gilan and west
coast overlooking Gomishan port was significant. The
coastal areas overlooking the eastern coasts of central
Mazandaran, from Larim to central parts of Miankaleh
are the least susceptible areas, and the susceptibility of
western coasts of central Mazandaran and Gilan is
moderate (Figure 2).
3 Discussion
Human desire to extract resources for development in
coastal areas has caused chaos and destruction in
coastal areas of natural environment. The leveling of
sand dunes and beach sand dredging with the purpose
of construction on the southern coast of the Caspian
Sea during the recent decade has grown increasingly
and as a result many of the sand dunes and even other
features of natural conservation such as coastal dikes
are demolished.
The recent progression of the Caspian Sea during
1977-1994 with 2.5 meter sea level rise in some areas
Figure 2 Sand dune erosion intensity degree, Caspian Sea
southern coasts