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Soil erosion control of Urmia Lake using indigenous ureolytic calcifying bacteria

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Abstract

Land degradation caused by accelerated soil erosion is a significant issue, particularly in arid or semi-arid regions, such as Urmia Lake in northwest Iran, where rainfall and wind erosion are major contributors. Microbially induced CaCO3 precipitation using indigenous ureolytic calcifying bacteria is a promising nature-inspired technique for mitigating soil erosion. In this study, several strains of indigenous bacteria were isolated and screened for urease activity and CaCO3 precipitation ability. The strain with the highest activity was selected for crust formation, and different treatment cycles and cementation solution concentrations were employed for specimen preparation. The results show that even specimens with only three cycles of treatment provided considerable protection against rainfall and wind erosion by reducing the erosion rate by over 50% and five times of magnitude, respectively. The specimen treated with seven cycles of cementation solution at a concentration of 1 M produced the thickest and strongest crusts. This study highlights the potential of using native bacteria for treatment as an effective method for controlling soil erosion in arid or semi-arid regions. The findings could be valuable for researchers and engineers involved in erosion control and soil stabilization.

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Abbreviations

BS :

Bacterial solution

CC :

CaCO3 content (%)

CP :

Precipitated CaCO3 by the bacterial strains (g)

CPE :

CaCO3 precipitation efficiency (%)

CS:

Cementation solution

OD 600 :

Optical density at a wavelength of 600 nm

RER :

Rainfall erosion rate [kg/(m2h)]

s :

Crust strength obtained from penetrometer test (kPa)

t :

Crust thickness (cm)

U :

Urease activity (mM urea hydrolyzed/min)

V :

Wind velocity (m/s)

ω :

Moisture content (%)

WER :

Wind erosion rate [kg/(m2h)]

ω R :

Relative moisture content (%)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Hafez Avenue, Tehran, Iran

    A. Mohsenzadeh, T. Ebadi & S. M. Fattahi

  2. Research Institute of Applied Sciences, ACECR, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

    A. A. Soorki & M. Bolfion

  3. Division of Sustainable Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

    S. Kawasaki

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  1. A. Mohsenzadeh
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  2. T. Ebadi
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Correspondence to T. Ebadi.

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Mohsenzadeh, A., Ebadi, T., Fattahi, S.M. et al. Soil erosion control of Urmia Lake using indigenous ureolytic calcifying bacteria. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 21, 5981–5996 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-05387-6

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