Urban Growth and Dynamics in the East of Gorganrood Watershed - 1972 to 2014

Cities and surrounding suburbs are Earth's fastest growing land cover/land use. Urban impervious surfaces affect energy balances, biological composition, functioning of ecosystems and hydrological conditions. In flood hazard studies impermeable surfaces play important role because these surfaces provide large amount of surface runoff. Flood hazards in Gorganrood watershed is the main hazard. In this regards, investigation of urban growth rate could be very useful in flood resistant decision making process. To reach to this goal, LCLU dynamics in the four main cities (Galikash, Gonbad-e-Ghabus, kalale and Minudasht) in the east of the basin were analyzed using remote sensing data. Landsat images for 18 years since 1972 to 2014 were selected and analyzed. Selecting more interval years not only make the change trends more clear and give better understand of dynamics but also, provide more advantages in impact assessment and finding flood underlying causes. The current study found that all four cities in the study area increasingly growth during the past decades and among them the Gonbad-e-Ghabus city has the most area today and thereupon Kalaleh, Minudasht and Galikash, respectively. Several questions remain unanswered at present in case of flood hazards in Gorganrood watershed and its relation with urban sprawl and further work is required.

کلیدواژه ها:

Urban Growth ، Gorganrood ، Flood Hazard ، Impervious Surface