Gavkhouni

Gavkhouni

Gavkhouni

Lake in Isfahan Province, Iran

Gavkhouni (Persian: گاوخونی, romanized: Gāwxuni) also written as Gawkhuni or Batlaq-e-Gavkhuni, located in the Iranian Plateau in central Iran, east of the city of Isfahan, is the terminal basin of the Zayandeh River. Gavkhouni is a salt marsh with a salinity of 31.5% and an average depth of about 1 m. The salt marsh can dry up in summer. The Zayandeh River originates in the Zagros mountains, and travels around 300 km, before terminating in Gavkhouni.

Quick Facts Designations, Ramsar Wetland ...
Map of the Zayandeh/Gavkhouni drainage basin

Gavkhouni receives pollution from Isfahan and other urban sources. Isfahan is a major oasis city on the Zayandeh River with a population over 1.5 million.

The marshes were designated a Ramsar site in 1975, the 19th wetland in Iran designated as a Wetland of International Importance on the Ramsar list.[2] The wetland is home to a variety of migratory birds including flamingos, ducks, geese, gulls, pelicans, and grebes. The vegetation of the area is very specialised; there are no green plants and trees around the lake due to soil salinity, but in the wetland, different species such as reeds, cattail, Schoenoplectus, pondweeds and various algae grow.[3]

Drying of Gavkhouni

Unfortunately, Isfahan's Gavkhouni Lagoon is currently "100%" dry.[4] Experts say that the drying up of the Gavkhouni lagoon will increase migration and destroy the job opportunities provided through tourism.[4]

Causes of drying

This wetland has dried up due to excessive harvesting of the water resources of the Zayandeh river basin, as well as due to mismanagement and non-expert works in recent years and has lost many functions and ecosystem services that it had for local communities.[5][6] Because this wetland was fed by Zayandeh River, the largest river in the central regions of Iran. But in recent years, as a result of indiscriminate construction of dams for economic purposes and the drying of Zayandeh River, this wetland has also dried up.[7]

References

  1. [1]
    "Gavkhouni Lake and marshes of the lower Zaindeh Rud". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  2. [2]
    Ramsar sites database Archived September 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  3. [3]
    "Gavkhouni wetland playing host to migratory flamingos". Tehran Times. 2020-08-18. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  4. [4]
    "تالاب گاوخونی اصفهان «صد در صد» خشک شد". صدای آمریکا (in Persian). 2023-06-07. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  5. [5]
    "پیامدهای زیانبار خشک شدن گاوخونی". ایسنا (in Persian). 2017-11-12. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
  6. [6]
    www.irna.ir https://www.irna.ir/news/84835598/%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%B9%DB%8C%D8%AA-%D9%87%D9%88%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A7%DA%A9-%D8%AE%D8%B4%DA%A9%DB%8C-%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%AE%D9%88%D9%86%DB%8C-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D9%86%D8%A8%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%AF-%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%AF%D9%87-%DA%AF%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%AA. Retrieved 2024-04-04. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. [7]
    "تالاب گاوخونی «صد در صد» خشک شد". رادیو فردا (in Persian). Retrieved 2024-04-09.

32.13492°N 52.91153°E / 32.13492; 52.91153


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