Influence of Land Use Changes on Some Soil Quality Indexes in Abbahar Masjed Soleiman Region

ABSTRACT: The increase in human population has increased the expectations of life standards and scarcity of natural resources. Today, there is a consensus that land-use change is one of the main causes of the change in the quality of the soil in the environment. Due to the importance of this issue, a study was conducted on the land-use changes and effects of these changes on some of the qualitative indicators of soil in an area of 9404 hectares in Ab-Bahar region, Masjed Soleyman County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. The results of this research demonstrated the growth of electrical conductivity, and consequently a gradual decrease in soil quality. In addition, this study showed that the environmental components should be dealt with in accordance with their long-term operative potentials. That is to say, utilization of these resources should be in line with all the natural phenomena and rules necessary for their sustainability. As the result of ignoring such rules the quality of soil will gradually declined and this vital environmental platform will face a serious crisis.