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90-93
ISSN 2049-8373
Research Paper
Abstract
Alluvial fans are transitional sedimentary deposits between mountain and floodplain with a form that resembles a cone
segment at the point where a confined stream emerges from a mountainous drainage basin into a zone of reduced stream
power and becomes unconfined. Alluvial fans occur in all global climates and form as result of a number of external and
internal control variables in space and time. Therefore, analysis of drainage basins and Fans relationship, using morphologic science, is essential. The study of fan morphometric is the measurement of alluvial fan and the use of external form to
identify form process associated relationships. In the study morphometric analysis of relationships between characteristics
of basins and alluvial fans investigate in the East of Fars province. Morphometric parameters can be used to describe,
analyze and compare basins and alluvial fans in different sizes. There is a close correlation between the morphologic
features of the basin and the alluvial fans. In this study, five morphometric parameters were analysed between 10 alluvial
fans. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was used for extracting the characteristics of basins and alluvial fans. The result
showed that highest correlation exists between catchment area and Fans area i.e. large catchment area has larger alluvial
fans.
Keywords: Alluvial Fan, Drainage Basin, Morphometric Parameters, Longitudinal Profiles
1. Introduction
Alluvial fans are fan-shaped deposits of water-transported
material (alluvium). They typically form at the base of topographic features where there is a marked break in slope.
Consequently, alluvial fans tend to be coarse-grained, especially at their mouths. At their edges, however, they can
be relatively fine-grained (Athol & Anthony, 1994).
Alluvial fans border the mountain fronts with the apex of
each fan just within a canyon mouth that serves as the outlet for a mountain drainage system. Sediment from erosion
within the mountains is moved by these drainage systems
to the adjacent basin. In arid and semiarid regions, this is
either an irregular or seasonal process driven by strongly
seasonal rainfall or rapid snowmelt. Sediment transfer is
thus frequently associated with sporadic flash floods that
may include mudflows. The fans, the main sites of deposition, are therefore an intrinsic part of an erosional-depositional system in which mountains tend slowly to wear away
and basins to fill with sediment through geologic time
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Seif and Mokarram / Journal of Environment (2013), Vol. 02, Issue 04, pp. 90-93
ISSN 2049-8373
2. Study Area
The study area is a salt playa in the north east of Fars
province, Iran. This area is located in 28o 23 to 30o 04- N
and 53o 43 to 56o 68 E with an area of 1277.5 km2 (Figure
2). The highest elevation in this area is East of Fars
province with 3126 meters that is located in the south west
of the basin and lowest points is 1570 meters.
Rainfall displays high inter-annual and seasonal variability. Annual long-term precipitation of the study area is 250
mm. The annual mean-temperature in the region ranges
between 15.5-18.5 oC. In this study the dataset consists of
drainage basin area fans apex, basin relief, fans area, fans
length, fans slop and fans concavity.
In geological map, the lithological units cropping out in
the catchment area mainly consist of: Shale, Limestone,
Sandstone, Granite, Aplite, Conglomerate, Dolomite, Marl
and Rhyolitie (Figure 3) (Seif & Mokarram, 2012).
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Seif and Mokarram / Journal of Environment (2013), Vol. 02, Issue 04, pp. 90-93
ISSN 2049-8373
Fan Name
Catchment Area (km2) Fan Apex Fan Area (km2) Fan Concavity Fan Length (km) Fan Slop (%)
1
2
3
6
1640.00
1638.00
6.86
5.98
1.10
1.20
3.10
3.20
0.031
0.054
3
4
5
6
7
8
11
11.2
12
15
15
11.4
1635.00
1680.00
1670.00
1700.00
2082.00
1830.00
10.94
1.34
2.44
1.98
2.49
9.63
1.10
1.00
1.20
1.00
1.50
1.30
3.40
3.50
4.50
4.10
5.10
4.00
0.018
0.038
0.032
0.031
0.029
0.012
9
10
4
17
1833.00
1850.00
6.66
5.42
1.40
1.30
3.00
5.60
0.032
0.017
5. Conclusions
A complex application of Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
derivatives is presented for morphometric of Fans in Gil,
province Fars, Iran. Using DEM can be extracted many information. Therefore, the statistical DEM properties such
as 1) elevation, 2) slope and 3) length. Also using DEM,
calculation of morphometry is easy and found the highest
correlation between catchment area and Fans Area. Therefore, a large catchment area has also larger alluvial fans.
References
Figure 5. Cross Sections of 10 Fans in Study Area
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Seif and Mokarram / Journal of Environment (2013), Vol. 02, Issue 04, pp. 90-93
ISSN 2049-8373
Ballantyne, C.K. (2002) Paraglacial geomorphology. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21, pp. 1935-2017.
Thomas, M.F. (2003) Late Quaternary sediment fluxes from tropical watersheds. Sedimentary Geology, 162, pp.
63-81.
Beaudoin, A.B., and King, R.H. (1994) Holocene palaeoenvironmental record preserved in a paraglacial alluvial fan,
Sunwapta Pass, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada.
Catena, 22, pp. 227-248.
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