Master's thesis at the University of Basra discusses (the spatial variance of the Shatt al-Arab river mouth in southern Iraq).
Announcements of the College of Education for Human Sciences
The Master’s thesis in the Department of Geography at the College of Education for Human Sciences, University of Basra, examined (the spatial variance of the Shatt Al-Arab River Estuary region in southern Iraq) for the student (Hatem Talei Attia).
The study aims to know the spatial and temporal variation of the concentration of dissolved salts in the water of the Shatt Al-Arab River to determine the downstream area and to indicate the effects that the spatial variation can cause to the downstream region by knowing the effect of the quantities of expenditures for fresh water on the water quality in the Shatt Al-Arab and knowing the extent of the impact of the tidal wave coming from The Arabian Gulf on the percentage of salt concentrations in the Shatt Al-Arab River.
The thesis included five chapters representing the first chapter with the introduction, while the second chapter dealt with the description of the study area, the third chapter dealt with the characteristics of the estuary and the factors affecting its location, while the fourth chapter dealt with the distribution of dissolved salts in the waters of the Shatt Al-Arab River. As for the fifth chapter, it dealt with the environmental effects of the estuary location variation.
The thesis concluded that there are multiple sources working to increase the concentration of dissolved salts in the waters of the Shatt al-Arab River, and that there are three main factors that clearly contributed to determining the location of the river mouth during the study year, which are the amount of fresh water discharge, the Karun River estuary, and sea level rise. Also, the advancement of the downstream region towards the upper river leads to a disruption in the natural ecosystems and the distribution of aquatic life in quantity and quality.
