DEEJ (2020) 9 (5) 11-24 Desert Ecosystem Engineering Journal Journal homepage: http://deej.kashanu.ac.ir University of Kashan Depositional pattern of sediments in a dry-lake Playa in NE Iran; Implication for geomorphologic characteristics Maliheh Pourali1, Adel Sepehr2*, Mohamad Hosein Mahmudy Gharaie3 Received: 22/03/2020 Accepted: 29/12/2020 Abstract The depositional pattern of dry lake playa sediments in NE Iran was studied to characterize the surface morphology of the playa based on sediment mineralogy. About 12 topo-soil samples were excavated by hand auger. All topo-soils were collected in three landforms of firm-puffy ground, clay-carbonate crusts, and halite dominated saltpans, to be examined for mineralogy by XRD analysis and physicochemical properties in the lab. XRF analysis performed to define the major oxides of the sediments. Quartz and calcite were the main minerals over the playa. Also, halite and gypsum were the major minerals categorized in the sediments indicating the dominant evaporate process in the area. Based on the results, a high concentration of EC (>48 dS/m) was observed in the mid-southern and southern part of the playa. Besides, the high concentrations of CCE (>27 %) and pH (>9) were observed in the eastern and the western playa, verifying the primary detection of the playa’s three major geomorphologic landforms in the fieldwork. A recent depositional pattern of carbonates and chloride formed from eastern to the western parts of the playa, respectively. Nevertheless, central playa shows the areas with the main minerals of calcite and halite. The existence of evaporate minerals depends on a cycle of the wet and dried lake during the Holocene. Keywords: Evaporate Sediments, Mineral Composition, Geomorphology, Sabzevar Playa. 1. PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran; 2. Associate Professor, Department of Desert and Arid Zones Management, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Mashhad. Iran, adelsepehr@um.ac.ir 3. Associate Professor, Department of Geology Faculty of Sciences Ferdowsi University Of Mashhad (FUM). Mashhad. Iran DOI: 10.22052/jdee.2020.224229.1062 11 M. Pourali, A. Sepehr, M.H. Mahmudy Gharaie / Desert Ecosystem Engineering Journal (2020) 9 (5) 11-24 1. Introduction In the Quaternary period, the climate conditions have changed globally (Roy et al. 2006) and due to these changes in circulation and variation of climate a worldwide expansion of the deserts have been occurred (Dawson 1992). The sediment records and geomorphologic evidence such as fossilized sand dunes, alluvial fans, palaeo-lakes, and playa dry-lakes are used to detect the climatic change of Quaternary (Thomas 1997). The playas basins located in the desert margins are sensitive to this climatic change (Roy et al. 2006). Such playa lakes in arid regions provide sensitive databases for the paleo-environment studies and climatic changes models in the Quaternary (Street-Perrott and Harrison 1985, Harrison 1993, May et al. 2015). Geomorphologic knowledge of the arid and semi-arid regions has greatly improved in recent years. For instance, the sedimentology, topography, and geomorphology of shoreline, fluvial and aeolian sediments have been used to investigate dry playa lakes in the arid center of Australia by a broad of authors (DeVogel et al. 2004, Magee et al. 2004, Leon and Cohen 2012, Cohen et al. 2015, May et al. 2015). However, the geomorphologic exploration of dry lake playas’ sedimentary data has not been studied extensively due to its multidisciplinary nature. Dry lake playas identified as landforms in arid regions (Abrahams and Parsons 1994). In these landforms, gypsum and salts have the main character in depositional records (Canton et al. 2003). Briere (2000) has proposed a precise definition for playa systems as the intra-continental arid zone basins with annual dryness for over 75% of the time. However, Glennie (1978) has defined playa as a temporary lake in the center of a basin of inland drainage where salts are concentrated by evaporation. He has stated that not all playas supplied by surface water as many of them have an important or unique groundwater supply (Arche 2008). The first study regarding playas of Iran backs to Krinsley (1970) who distinguished about 60 playas approximately and presented a systematic classification of Kavir surfaces (A Persian term tantamount Sabkha and salt pans). In this article, the spatial dynamics of sediment compositions have been studied along an arid dry-lake playa across Sabzevar in northeastern Iran, where is a small part of the central playa of Iran. The mineral compositions can represent the evidence of regional responses to climate fluctuations during the Quaternary period. Although many studies have investigated sedimentary depositions worldwide, much of the focus has been on aeolian initiation or palaeo-climate implications (e.g., Thomas and Burrough 2013, Leighton et al., 2014, Li and Yang, 2015, Lancaster et al., 2016, Yang et al. 2018, Vaezi et al. 2019, Gholami et al. 2019). However, the main aim of this study is to investigate the mineralogy and geochemistry of Sabzevar Playa sediments by consuming quantitative and descriptive data as well as spatial and statistical analyzes and the geomorphic changes of the playa in the late Holocene. The importance of this study can be assumed as its role on increase our environmental knowledge about the nature and factors of climate change in the long term because the playa sediments are the best cases to serve the history of past environmental conditions in semi-arid regions. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. General characteristics of the study area According to the classification of Handford (1981), relating dominant geomorphologic processes in arid regions, Sabzevar dry lake categorized as a typical playa of central playa of Iran called Dasht-Kavir (Kearey 2009). On this basis, Sabzevar playa, which is located in the eastern great Kavir basin, was chosen as the study area with a total surface area of M. Pourali, A. Sepehr, M.H. Mahmudy Gharaie / Desert Ecosystem Engineering Journal (2020) 9 (5) 11-24 about 2648 Km2 between latitude 35°55'00''36°25'00'' N and longitude 56°15'00''- 57°45'00'' E (Fig. 1a). Figure (1): a. General position of the study area in great Kavir basin, central Iran, b. Topographical characteristics, c. Geological map, and d. General position of landforms and location of topo-soils environments of alluvial sediments and evaporation sediments of salt flats belong to the Quaternary period (Geological Survey of Iran, 2005) (Fig. 1c), which have confirmed the evidence of a dried lake. The end part of the playa formed a salt-marsh land. In addition to wind-borne sand dunes, the volcanic tuffs and pelagic carbonate rocks can be found around the playa, which belongs to the upper Cretaceous period and earlier. The climate of the region is semi-arid with annual precipitation of 150-200 mm and an annual temperature of 16-17 °C (Hijmans et al. 2005). Based on a set of fieldwork observations during the dry season of 2016 (July and The topographical elevation values of the study area vary between 750 and 900 m above sea level (m a.s.l), while the main topographical elevation is over 800 m a.s.l over a flat relief. The general topographic trend of the playa extends in the east to west along the Kal-Shour River with an average of 120 Km length (Fig. 1b). Sabzevar playa is a hydrological closed drainage basin with the dried surface. According to Gansser (1955), there was a place of the possible lake, which probably has been closed during the earlyPleistocene epoch. Geologically, the depositional nature of the playa has been developed along with two dominated 12 M. Pourali, A. Sepehr, M.H. Mahmudy Gharaie / Desert Ecosystem Engineering Journal (2020) 9 (5) 11-24 was visually investigated using satellite imagery data by ETM+ (color composite: 4-32; 5-3-1; 1-5-7), Google Earth™, and fieldwork observations. The geological investigation was studied based on four sheets 7262 (Abbas-Abad), 7362 (Davarzan), 7462 (Bashtin), and 7562 (Sabzevar) at the 1:100,000 scale (Geological Survey of Iran 2005). Based on a set of digital elevation model data scaled at ~10 m pixel size, which have been prepared by official products of Geological Survey of Iran (GSI 2016), topographical elevation data were carried out in ArcGIS (10.2). August) about twelve samples were considered in three landforms of firm-puffy ground, claycarbonate plain with physical crusts, and saltpans with the dominance of halite salts. The general position of three major geomorphologic landforms and location of profiles are presented in Fig. 1d and the general vision of the aforementioned landforms are showed in Fig. 2. In similar research, Farpoor et al. (2012), have identified different geomorphologic surfaces on Sirjan playa, including clay flats, puffy ground, and salt crusts. The initial geomorphology of the study area Figure (2): General vision of landforms consisted of firm-puffy ground (e, b), fine-clay ground and embryo Nebka (d), physical carbonate crust (a, c), and salt crusts, Takir (f) Fieldwork operations were conducted during the dry season of 2016 (July-August), due to proper climatic conditions without any rainfall or runoff phenomena, and were complemented using topographic measurements. In fieldwork, a handheld GPS 14 M. Pourali, A. Sepehr, M.H. Mahmudy Gharaie / Desert Ecosystem Engineering Journal (2020) 9 (5) 11-24 were analyzed by High-score Plus-program to detect the most abundant peaks (Vaezi et al. 2019). The geochemical composition was determined separately for sediments characteristic regarding electrical conductivity (EC), and pH through various analytical techniques at the laboratory of Natural Resources and Environment College of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. The amount of calcium carbonate equivalent (CCE) was measured by acid neutralization calculated using the SHIBLER method (US Salinity Laboratory Staff 1954). Air-dried sediment samples were heated for 2 h at 420 °C. Besides, X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) was used by PHILIPS PW1410 to analyze major element oxides and trace element concentrations after the standard analytical procedures of Kramar (1997). Meanwhile, the GIS interpolation functions used for analyzing spatial data and visualizing the results (Bagherzadeh and Mansouri Daneshvar 2014). Hence, interpolating the topo-soil dataset was used by geostatistical extension of inverse distance weighting (IDW) to preparing spatial evaluation maps. The geostatistical interpolation algorithms such as the IDW, spline, and Kriging techniques are typical representative methods (Di Piazza et al. 2011, Nikolopoulos et al. 2015). The IDW technique provides a weighting of information that is locally associated and allows the regression model to vary in space. This can help reveal spatial variations in the empirical relationships between factors (Wang et al. 2005, Razmi et al. 2017). In this study, the IDW technique was used to model spatial variation of the geochemical variables both in the surface and depth of the profiles, revealing the less amount of root mean squared and mean predictive errors. The interpolated maps were finally categorized into three classes of negligible, low, and high concentration based on an equal interval method in GIS. was used for general geomorphologic investigation. GPS coordinates and altitudes for each sample location collected in datasets. Then, sampling topo-soils were documented at twelve locations on different surfaces. All topo-soil samples were excavated by hand auger to a depth of ~1 m. The number of samples at each location (topo-soil) was considered through surface and deep profiles, which surface profile was defined from surface to 10-cm depth and other deep profiles were obtained from 10 to 100 cm in depth. 2.2. Analytical methods All topo-soil samples were measured in the field concerning particle size distribution, and chemical precipitates by the proposed method of May et al. (2015). On this basis, all samples were taken from representative landforms for further analysis in the laboratory of Natural Resources and Environment College. Sediment grain sizes were described using the terminology of Wentworth (1922) and Folk (1954, 1980). To detect sediment grain-size analysis samples were dried and sieved with a set of 0.5 Φ screens in the laboratory after the proposed method of Moussavi-Harami et al. (2004). Based on analyzed data, sediments were classified according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) classification scheme. The mineral composition of topo-soil samples was determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) by PHILIPS PW1730 after Sinha (2006). Powered bulk samples were dried at 50 °C, and XRD charts were generated for the 2θ range of 3-60 °C. Minerals were identified from their characteristic peaks and their relative abundance was estimated from XRD charts. In this regard, evaporite minerals were identified from their characteristic peaks and their relative abundance was estimated from XRD charts. Oriented samples were prepared for fraction of sediments for clay mineralogy using Eppendorf pipette and XRD charts and results 15 M. Pourali, A. Sepehr, M.H. Mahmudy Gharaie / Desert Ecosystem Engineering Journal (2020) 9 (5) 11-24 pH, CCE, and soil graining analysis are shown in Table 1 for the aforementioned topo-soil samples. 3. Result and Discussion 3.1. Physical and chemical analysis The location of topo-soils presented in Figure 1d. All physical-chemical properties of EC, Table (1): Physical-chemical properties of topo-soil samples No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Sample ID 207 210 223 233 247 266 277 281 286 290 294 320 EC (dS/m-1) 0.21 4.06 71.34 8.85 37.24 9.13 14.14 30.77 18.40 33.66 23.47 26.81 CCE (%) 30 20 24 28 14 33 28 22 29 21 32 26 pH 7.92 8.45 7.64 8.18 9.39 9.21 8.42 8.17 9.43 9.13 9.25 8.11 Sand (%) 78.8 88.2 90.1 92.3 98.1 91.1 95.3 79.6 75.8 95.4 92.7 97.8 Silt (%) 13.2 7.3 8.4 5.7 1.1 5.5 2.9 16.3 14.6 1.6 6.7 1.9 Clay (%) 8 4.5 1.5 2 0.8 3.4 1.8 4.1 9.6 3 0.6 0.3 EC: Electrical Conductivity CCE: Calcium Carbonate Equivalent Based on Figure 1d, the location of toposoil 207 in the eastern part of the playa with an elevation of 875 m a.s.l shows a geomorphologic surface categorized as firm puffy ground. The puffy ground also formed by evaporation deposits and therefore evaporate minerals cannot form (RahimpourBonab and Abdi 2012). Dominant geological formation in this landform has been made by Quaternary alluvial fans. According to table 1, EC, pH, and CCE contents in topo-soil 207 were estimated equal 0.21 dS/m, 7.92, and 30 %, respectively. Hence, the surface of this topo-soil is alkaline with the lowest value of electro-conductivity in the study area. The location of topo-soil 286 (as an indicator auger in clay ground) is in the central part of the playa, in the elevation of 850 m a.s.l., where the geomorphologic surface is categorized as fine clay ground. Polygonal structures are the most common sedimentary features of clay ground. Weak infiltration of these areas could result in to form of mud cracks (Cooke and Warren 1973). Based on the geological map of the study area, terrace deposits and salt flat are dominant geological formations in this landform with physical crusts on the surface. According to Table 1, EC, pH, and CCE contents in topo-soil 286 were estimated equal to 18.40 dS/m, 9.23, and 29 %, respectively. Hence, the surface of this topo-soil is semi-saline with the mid-value of electro-conductivity in the study area. As well as, the western part of the playa with salt crust surfaces was determined by the location of topo-soil 290 (as an indicator auger in a salt crust) with an elevation of 825 m a.s.l. The geomorphologic surfaces are covered by salt crusts and evaporate depositions, which occurred in the salt flat of lakes and Sabkhas (Watson 1983), dominantly during the end stages of the evaporation era (Rosen 1994). Superficial evaporation causes an upward groundwater association with capillary forces, forming to salt crusts (Rahimpour-Bonab and Abdi 2012). The salt flat is the dominant 16 M. Pourali, A. Sepehr, M.H. Mahmudy Gharaie / Desert Ecosystem Engineering Journal (2020) 9 (5) 11-24 geological formation in this landform. EC, pH, and CCE contents in topo-soil 290 were estimated equal 33.66 dS/m, 9.13, and 21 %, respectively (Table 1). Hence, the surface of this topo-soil is saline with a high value of electro-conductivity in the study area. In the next step, some interpolation maps were produced for spatial evaluation of EC, pH, and CCE concentrations (Figs. 3a-3c). Figure (3): a. Geo-statistical distribution of EC content, b. Geo-statistical distribution of CaCO3 content, c. Geostatistical distribution of pH content, and d. Relationship between (CaO+MgO) and L.o.I. in Sabzevar playa playa for instance around the topo-soils 210 and 247. According to Figure 3c, a high concentration of pH (>9) is observed in western playa around topo-soils 294. Also, the negligible concentration of pH (<8.5) is observed in the central part of the playa for instance around the topo-soils 210 and 223. The aforementioned consequence, which gained from the physical-chemical properties of topo-soil samples, is corresponded to detect of playa’s three major geomorphologic landforms in fieldwork observation. On this basis, a high concentration of EC (>48 dS/m) is observed in the mid-southern and southern part of the playa for instance around the topo-soil samples 223 and 247. Also, the negligible concentration of EC (<24 dS/m) is observed in eastern and western playa around topo-soils 207 and 294. According to Figure 3b, a high concentration of CCE (>27 %) is observed in eastern and western playa around topo-soils 207 and 294. Also, the negligible concentration of CCE (<21 %) is observed in the central and southern part of the 17 M. Pourali, A. Sepehr, M.H. Mahmudy Gharaie / Desert Ecosystem Engineering Journal (2020) 9 (5) 11-24 positive correlation. You can use that to explain the mean of correlation between the (CaO+MgO) sum and L.o.I. parameter. After XRD results show the major minerals, categorizing as quartz, halite, calcite, and gypsum (Table 4; Fig. 4). Quartz is the main clay mineral in recent sediments and it relates to the climate and weathering pattern of the source area (Rahimpour-Bonab and Abdi 2012). In all topo-soils, the quartz amount showed a mean value of 34%. In this regard, the main quartz mineralogy of the playa averagely was detected based on the ternary plot of Fig. 5, proposed by Von Eynatten et al. (2002). 3.2. Geochemical and mineralogical analysis Based on the results of XRF analysis about 12 major elements and 16 trace elements of selected samples were as shown in Tables 2 and 3. According to the data of Table 2, the most chemical compositions of bulk samples were demonstrated averagely as SiO2, Al2O3, CaO, and MgO with mean values 42.82, 9.12, 9.07 and 8.68 %, respectively. The statistical relationship between (CaO+MgO) and L.o.I. shows a more significant correlation (Fig. 3d), indicating the L.o.I. is the crystallization volatile (i.e. H2O), and it also is a good parameter of alteration with which shows a Table (2): Chemical compositions (as wt%) of bulk samples analyzed by XRF method No. ID SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3* CaO Na2O MgO K2O TiO2 MnO P2O5 Cl3 1 207 55.68 10.89 5.77 9.50 1.41 5.33 1.57 0.54 0.10 0.12 0.02 2 210 41.88 8.23 5.08 6.29 9.24 9.75 1.66 0.42 0.08 0.10 4.20 3 223 40.67 8.16 5.12 7.79 6.70 7.52 1.76 0.43 0.08 0.11 10.50 4 233 46.47 9.97 4.98 13.76 1.19 7.29 1.46 0.44 0.08 0.10 0.10 5 247 40.52 8.48 5.92 7.90 5.95 8.84 1.92 0.50 0.09 0.12 4.90 6 266 41.00 11.69 6.67 12.20 1.86 6.33 2.53 0.59 0.10 0.16 1.01 7 277 41.22 9.57 6.72 7.69 6.45 7.97 2.10 0.47 0.10 0.12 5.90 8 281 30.55 6.76 5.25 12.06 3.05 10.37 1.26 0.43 0.09 0.13 2.30 9 286 43.67 8.82 6.35 7.67 5.82 9.38 1.79 0.49 0.10 0.11 5.30 10 290 45.53 9.92 6.57 8.63 4.39 8.53 2.07 0.53 0.11 0.12 3.80 11 294 43.65 7.64 7.77 6.95 1.23 15.64 1.52 0.50 0.12 0.11 0.70 12 320 43.04 9.37 5.67 8.41 7.34 7.28 1.84 0.45 0.09 0.11 6.90 *: as total iron , L.o.I.: Loss on Ignition SO4 0.01 3.50 0.08 2.80 4.80 0.65 2.60 10.30 0.30 0.06 1.80 1.30 Table (3): Trace elements data (ppm) of bulk samples analyzed by XRF methods No. ID As Ba Ce Co Cr Cu Nb Ni Pb Rb Sr V Y Zr 1 207 9 355 114 17 258 6 N 137 33 52 595 83 31 173 2 210 12 212 44 17 333 N N 357 28 57 212 63 28 85 3 223 15 257 52 16 110 18 4 190 27 76 403 71 28 126 4 233 6 370 6 16 390 4 N 273 36 52 501 72 27 146 5 247 N 282 N 16 107 11 2 204 27 76 965 76 30 158 6 266 15 419 6 18 111 10 4 177 30 99 524 91 36 164 7 277 1 309 47 22 154 37 3 339 34 90 476 84 30 137 8 281 N 272 1 14 178 4 N 251 30 52 1847 73 21 220 9 286 18 301 58 20 232 19 4 327 35 72 393 80 32 134 10 290 17 369 N 18 163 17 8 297 35 84 279 79 32 138 11 294 26 256 20 32 437 9 N 802 40 63 360 80 28 130 12 320 24 286 52 15 117 50 4 206 33 72 483 74 25 127 N: Not detected 18 L.o.I. 8.19 9.56 10.46 10.64 9.31 14.42 9.05 16.77 9.61 9.22 12.10 8.10 Zn Mo 87 68 74 61 86 108 92 67 87 102 100 78 31 34 28 31 29 29 31 31 31 29 28 30 M. Pourali, A. Sepehr, M.H. Mahmudy Gharaie / Desert Ecosystem Engineering Journal (2020) 9 (5) 11-24 36 42 1 207 21.8 35 2 210 3 223 48.2 28 72 3.4 4 233 26 27.8 5 247 22 40 1.1 3.4 6 266 7 277 18.8 21.5 13 8 281 11.1 43.7 9 286 40.8 28 10 290 24.6 38.5 34 19.8 18.8 14 11 294 8.2 12 320 29.4 32.2 *: all estimated quantities are approximately 21.6 41.9 22.9 21.7 5.7 6.5 2.1 3.5 10.8 26.4 3.6 10.1 26 10.9 21 28.2 Figure (4): XRD patterns of some topo-soil samples in Sabzevar playa 19 Hematite 9.8 1.3 11.2 39 23.3 26 Dolomite Muscovite Palygorskite Cristobalite Montmorillonite Calcite Albite Gypsum Magnetite Quartz Halite Sample ID No. Table (4): Mineralogy of topo-soil samples by XRD method* M. Pourali, A. Sepehr, M.H. Mahmudy Gharaie / Desert Ecosystem Engineering Journal (2020) 9 (5) 11-24 Figure (5): Ternary plots of CaO-MgO-SiO2, MgO-Al2O3-SiO2, and CaO-MgO-other compositions for Sabzevar playa Based on Smykatz-Kloss, and Roy (2010), the ratio of Na2O/K2O can be represented the arid or humid condition of soil units. In Fig. 6b, an interpolation map for the spatial ratio of Na2O/K2O was produced. On this basis, the high ratio of the aforementioned unit-less characteristic (>330) is observed in central playa around topo-soils 210 and 223. Also, the negligible ratio of Na2O/K2O (<230) is observed in the eastern and western part of the playa for instance around the topo-soils 207 and 290. Hence, the central playa (corresponded to the fine-clay ground) was classified as a very arid soil unit. In the mirror, eastern and western parts of a playa (corresponded to firm-clay ground and salt crusts) are categorized as semi-arid/semihumid soil units due to groundwater drainage and saline marshland, respectively. Afterward, the mean values of halite, calcite, and gypsum have been recorded as 27%, 25%, and 20% in the most topo-soils, indicating a dominant evaporate process. The most calcite amount was observed in topo-soil 210 over the fine-clay ground; however, the most gypsum amount was observed in toposoil 294 over the salt crusts agreeing on the geomorphologic definition of fieldwork. According to Farpoor et al. (2012), Ca and Mg depositions are observed in central playas of Iran due to the evaporating process of warm climate in the Tertiary period. Nevertheless, high amounts of Si and Al are commonly due to weathering of surrounding formations. The relative concentration of 16 elements was averagely reported in the element enrichment plot (Fig. 6a). In this regard, the element enrichments revealed a higher concentration of clay and heavy minerals. 20 M. Pourali, A. Sepehr, M.H. Mahmudy Gharaie / Desert Ecosystem Engineering Journal (2020) 9 (5) 11-24 Figure (6): a. Normalized distribution of elemental enrichment plot, b. Geostatistical distribution of of Na2O, K2O ratio, c. Geostatistical distribution of calcite mineralogy, and d. Geostatistical distribution of halite mineralogy in sediment surface and formation of puffy or salt crust geomorphology. While a silt loam texture was observed over the clay ground indicting firm carbonate surfaces in the study area. Owliaie et al. (2006) and Farpoor et al. (2012) in the playas of Iran have reported a similar mechanism. According to XRD results, the main minerals of quartz and calcite are observed in the whole playa. The major minerals were categorized as quartz, halite, calcite, and gypsum. Subsequently, the halite, calcite, gypsum indicate evidence of the evaporating process. As well as, it seems a newer deposition pattern of carbonates and chloride in eastern and western parts of the playa, respectively. Nevertheless, central playa shows the ground without alkaline condition and carbonate deposition because marginal wind- 4. Conclusion All physical-chemical properties of EC, pH, CCE, and soil graining analysis were investigated through selected topo-soils. On this basis, a high concentration of EC (>48 dS/m) is observed in the mid-southern and southern part of playa. The high concentration of CCE (>27 %) is observed in eastern and western playa around topo-soils 207 and 294. Also, a high concentration of pH (>9) is observed in western playa around topo-soils 294. The aforementioned consequence, which gained from the physical-chemical properties of toposoils, is corresponded to detect of playa’s three major geomorphologic landforms in fieldwork observation. Based on graining analysis, some topo-soils represented sandy texture for playa’s deposits over the salt crusts and puffy ground indicating osmosis penetration of ground waters 21 M. Pourali, A. Sepehr, M.H. Mahmudy Gharaie / Desert Ecosystem Engineering Journal (2020) 9 (5) 11-24 borne deposits and sand dunes have affected it dominantly. On this basis, the major minerals of central playa have been comprised of calcite and halite (Fig. 6c-6d). In these Figures, the negligible concentration of calcite mineralogy (<13%) is observed in western playa around topo-soils 286 and 294. Also, a high concentration of Halite mineralogy (>23%) is observed in the western part of the playa for instance around the topo-soils 294 and 320. The existence of evaporate minerals depends on a cycle of the wet and dried lake during the Holocene. This result confirmed by the occurrence of colder and drier conditions at least between the last glacial maximum (LGM) and the early Holocene in the most playas of Iran especially in central Iran (Krinsley 1970, Hagedorn et al. 1978). of geomorphology, supported by grant 41832 from the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. The authors are thanks from colleagues at NRE Lab, particularly Mr. Parvian and Ms. Hassanzadeh for their support. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ contributions MP conducted the fieldwork and contributed to the analysis of the data as well as in writing the first draft. AS is a supervisor for the research and MHMG is an adviser. AS and MHMG supervised data analysis and contributed in revising the manuscript and providing the final draft. AS is corresponding the research. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Acknowledgment This research work is an output of Ph.D thesis References 1. 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