Influence of dyke-type causeway on Urmia Lake (NW Iran); insights from water physico-chemical parameters seasonal (2019) changes

Abstract

The Urmia Lake in NW Iran, the world’s second-largest hypersaline lake, has been exposed to rapid water level fall in the last two decades due to water resources mismanagement, building up of dams on inlet rivers, and the causeway construction in the lake. This human intervention has divided the lake into northern and southern parts and caused an extreme disturbance in the hydro-chemical and hydrodynamic systems, namely current direction reversal. To fully understand the current situation, water depth and lake surface and deepwater physico-chemical parameters (i.e. density, temperature, acidity, electrical conductivity, and total dissolved solids) are analysed in the wet and dry seasons of 2019. In the wet season, deepwaters have a higher density than surface waters, and the northern part of the lake contains denser water compared to its southern counterpart. The formation of density gradients creates an anticlockwise direction lake current. Deepwaters show higher electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids than surface waters in the wet season. Unlike the wet season, the lake water becomes more homogenised due to wave action and evaporation in the dry season. Our study clearly demonstrates that the water passageway of the causeway does not allow for a complete yearly balance between water and sediment exchange. Results suggest that the northern and southern parts of the lake have almost independent hydro-chemical and hydrodynamic systems. In the undeniable reality of global warming trends, anthropogenic interventions into sensible ecologic systems need to be better planned if we were to prevent the ecological disasters we now have to face.