Assessment of desertification potential using IMDPA model In Derakhte Senged water shed

The Derakhte Senged area is located in south of Neishaboor town at Khorasan Razavi province. In this research، desertification intensity of Derakht senged area was evaluated using IMDPA، one of the newest method to Assess desertification potential in arid and semi arid regions of Iran. To evaluate desertification intensity، based on the primary research in this area، 4 criteria were selected including vegetation cover، soil، climate، geology and geomorphology. Each criterion was assessed based on the selected indices which result in qualitative mapping of each criterion cased on geometric mean of the indices. Then، sensitive map of region was extracted using geometric mean of all criteria. By laminate of thematic databases layers and using geometric mean of main criteria intensity map was obtained. The results showed that 0. 37 % of study area categorized in low class، 80% was medium and 19. 63% involved high class of desertification. Analysis of desertification criteria in this region showed that among study criteria، vegetation cover criteria is a major problem with a geometric average of 3. 05 which shows high class، while geology and geomorphology with a weighted average of 1. 8، has moderate effect in desertification. Also، climate and soil criteria with a geometric average of 2. 04 and 2. 21 show medium class desertification.