الآثار البيئية لزيادة توغل المياه البحرية في نهر شط العرب

Abstract EN

The research aims to know the environmental impacts of the incursion of marine waters from the Arabian Gulf towards the waters of the Shatt al-Arab River, as the marine water penetration into the river increases according to the variation of natural and human factors.

Water samples were collected from four sites (Al-Ashar, Al-Siba, Al-Faw, and Ras Al-Bisha) distributed along the stream of the river extending from the city of Basra to the opening of the stream on the Arabian Gulf, and the study consisted of three seasons, which are the autumn of 2019, the winter and summer of the year 2020, the current study revealed that there is an increase in the incursion of marine waters towards the upper Shatt al-Arab River, and despite of the multiplicity of factors affecting the increase in the incursion of marine waters, three main factors contributed to the increase in the incursion of marine waters, which are both amount of fresh water drainage, the Karun estuary and sea level rise.

The increase in the incursion of marine waters towards the upper Shatt al Arab River affects the quality of the water in the stream of the river, and thus this effect extends on the water environment in the stream of the river and the aquatic and plant life that contains the uses of domestic water and in various economic fields.

Consequently, the increase in the incursion of marine waters affects the economic and social life of individuals and human societies, as well as the direct impact on biodiversity in all different environments.