Persepolis threatened by drought, land subsidence

Located in dry climate, Persepolis had been erected through 200 years by different Achaemenid potentates on a ground mainly composed of limestone, which is subject to wind erosion relatively easily.

Droughts of recent years rendered the region unsuitable for agriculture. However, water had been increasingly wasted in traditional rice plantations in villages near Persepolis. This contributes to even more severe land subsidence. Authorities have warned about pernicious effects of activities on the site, but farming had been continued untrameled.

Tahmouras Yousefi, head of Center of Geology in South (Shiraz Office), said that Marvdasht plain had been a site of significant land subsidence, with a general trend also afflicting the province; “Fars Province suffers the maximum fall in the level of water which makes the province’s plains subject to cracks and sinkholes,” he added.

“Unregulated underground water use had been the major cause of drying of the plain in a tree plantation project near Persepolis in recent years. The issue seeks serious measures by the authorities in provincial and national levels,” Yousefi asserted.

“The northern part of the plain in outskirts of Rahmat Mount has huge cracks which continue to Naghsh-e Rostam; cracks had been discovered in Shoul Village, near Marvdasht, with widest cracks in Karbal near the historical complex.  Cracks had become wider one centimeter annually after lapse of 10 years,” he said. 

Norouz Rajabi, a local archeologist, reiterates warnings on impending damage threatening Persepolis: “The public is also subject to dangers. The underground water level has shrunken severely, drying up the bed of Kor River. Rice is grown in the vicinity of the site despite drought conditions.  Rice planting exhausts water resources in Marvdasht Plain near Gediyoun Village, only one kilometer from Persepolis. This would lead to a disaster of far-reaching consequences. Agricultural activities should be slowed in these regions for an effective solution to the land subsidence,” he demanded.