Temporal and Spatial Variation of Sand Dunes, the Caspian Sea

Abstract

The evaluation of temporal and spatial changes of sand dunes in the southern coasts of the Caspian Sea is the main target in this research. So with periodic satellite images interpretation and field monitoring on beach zone, the physical condition of sand dunes morphology was examined. The results show that from 865 km coastal stripe in the southern coasts of the Caspian Sea there is just 156 kilometers discontinuously sand dunes and the beach zone of the western part of Mazandaran and Gilan and also Golestan province are the most susceptible regions from erosion point of view. There is only 45 kilometers pristine and untouched sand dune along the study area which was located in Miankaleh territory. The results show that the varieties of sand dunes along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea are different. Tendency of erosion vulnerability of these sand dunes have been increased by anthropogenic impact and rapid sea level changes, particularly near Amirabad complex zone in south-east coasts of the Caspian Sea.