Paper Title
The Scrutiny Of Some Soil Degradation Indicators In Dry Farming And Gully Land In Ghalehgorg, Shoushtar, Iran

Abstract
Iran�s being located in the arid and semi-arid belt of the world as well as the occurrence of droughts and devastating floods on the one hand, and population increase and efforts to sustain food security on the other, have contributed in turning soil degradation into a major problem in the country. Land use change and the consequent land desertification combined with population increase would inevitably eternalize problems such as poverty and deprivation. Due to the significance of this subject, focused study of certain soil degradation indicators in two cases of Dry farming and Gully land was put on the agenda. Some experts believe parameters related to physical properties of soil including apparent soil bulk density and porosity, as well as chemical parameters, fertility, and organic matter play a role in soil degradation. The obtained results showed that as compared with ditches, agricultural land possessed higher amounts of organic carbon, and no significant difference was observed between agricultural and Gully land in terms of apparent soil bulk density or porosity. Keywords: Land use change, Organic matter, Porosity, Soil bulk density.