Geomorphology

Mahesh Kumar Jat Department of Civil Engineering Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur

Geomorphology
Introduction
Geomorphology is a science that analyzes and describes the origin, evolution, form, and spatial distribution of landforms. It is an important aspect of the study of physical geography and the understanding of the spatial-physical aspects of landforms.

Basic Definitions

Topography refers to the elevation and relief of the Earths surface. Landforms are the topographic features on the Earths surface. Geomorphology is the study of earth surface processes and landforms.

The maps above represent the same area on Earths surface and they show three different ways we can view landforms. The image on the far left is a clip from a topographic elevation map, the image in the middle is an infrared aerial photo, and the image on the right is the geologic interpretation of surface sediments and geomorphology. This location is interesting because it contains elements of a natural and human altered physical environment. The lake in the image, (coded blue in the topographic and geology map, and black in the infrared aerial photo) 3 was formed by artificial damming a stream the flows through this landscape.

Topography
Topography is a term used to describe the Earths surface. Topography includes a variety of different features, collectively referred to as landforms. Topography is measured by the differences in elevation across the earths surface. Differences between high and low elevation are referred to as changes in relief. We can examine topography using a variety of different sources ranging from paper topographic maps to digital elevation models developed using specialized geographic information systems commonly referred to as a GIS.

Landforms
Landforms are the individual topographic features exposed on the Earths surface. Landforms vary in size and shape and include features such as small creeks or sand dunes, or large features such as the River or Ridge Mountains. Landforms develop over a range of different time-scales. Some landforms develop rather quickly (over a few seconds, minutes, or hours), such as a landslide, while others may involve many millions of years to form, such as a mountain range. Landform development can be relatively simple and involve only a few processes, or very complex and involve a combination of multiple processes and agents.

Landforms are dynamic features that are continually affected by a variety of earth-surface processes including weathering, erosion, and deposition.

Photo Source: SCGS

Landforms and Scale: Crustal Orders of Relief

First Order of Relief:
The broadest landform scale is divided into continental landmasses, which include all of the crust above sea-level (30% Earths surface), and ocean basins, which include the crustal areas below sea-level (70% of Earths surface)

Second Order of Relief:

The second order of relief includes regional-scale continental features such as mountain ranges, plateaus, plains, and lowlands. Examples include the Rocky Mountains, Atlantic Coastal Plain, and Tibetan Plateau. Major ocean basin features including continental shelves, slopes, abyssal plains, mid-ocean ridges, and trenches are all second-order relief landforms.

Third Order of Relief:

The third order of relief includes individual landform features that collectively make up the larger secondorder relief landforms. Examples include individual volcanoes, glaciers, valleys, rivers, flood plains, lakes, marine terraces, beaches, and dunes. Each major landform categorized within the third order of relief may also contain many smaller features or different types of a single feature. For example, although a flood plain is an individual landform it may also contain a mosaic of smaller landforms including pointbars, oxbow lakes, and natural levees. Rivers, although a single landform, may be classified by a variety of channel types including straight, meandering, or braided.
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Crustal Orders of Relief

I. First Order or Relief: Continental Landmasses and Ocean Basins II. Second Order of Relief: Major Continental and Ocean Landforms

III. Third Order of Relief: Genetic Landform Features

Beaches

Rivers and Flood Plains

Mountains

Images and Photos: SCGS

Geomorphology
Geomorphology is the process-based study of landforms.

Geo-morph-ology originates from Greek: Geo meaning the Earth, morph meaning its shape, and ology refers to the study of. Scientists who study landforms are Geomorphologists. Geomorphology defines the processes and conditions that influence landform development, and the physical, morphological, and structural characteristics of landforms. In Geomorphology often we seek to answer fundamental questions that help them study landforms, such as: What is the physical form or shape of the landform? What is the elevation and topographic relief of the landform? How did the landform originate? What is the distribution of the landform and where else does it occur? Are their any patterns associated with the landform or topography? What is the significance of the landform in relation to other elements of the landscape or environment? Has the landform or geomorphology been altered by humans? Does the landform or geomorphology affect humans?

Uniformitarianism
Uniformitarianism is a common theory held by earth scientists that states the present is the key to the past. Uniformitarianism implies that the processes currently shaping the Earths topography and landforms are the same processes as those which occurred in the past. By studying geomorphology, we are better able to interpret the origin of landforms and infer their future evolution within the landscape. Such applications are especially important for predicting, preventing, and mitigating natural hazards impact to humans, and managing our natural resources for future generations.
The two images below illustrate the concept of uniformitarianism. On the left is an imprint of ripple marks in sandstone, similar current ripple forms in the right image. If the present is the key to the past, we can infer that the sandstone rock formed in a low energy, fluvial environment similar to the conditions in the right image.

Constructive and Destructive Processes

Constructive processes build landforms through tectonic and depositional processes.
Tectonic processes include movements at plate boundaries, earthquakes, orogeny, deformation, and volcanic activity. Deposition is the accumulation or accretion of weathered and eroded materials.

Destructive processes break down landforms through weathering, erosion, and mass wasting.
Weathering is the disintegration of rocks by mechanical, chemical, and biological agents. Erosion is the removal and transportation of weathered material by water, wind, ice, or gravity. Mass wasting is the rapid down-slope movement of materials by gravity.

Other Agents and Processes that Affect Landform Development

Climate: temperature, precipitation, water cycle, atmospheric conditions Time: fast and slow rates of change People: influences on natural resources and earth surface processes
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Constructive Processes
Constructive processes are responsible for physically building or constructing certain

landforms. Constructive processes include tectonic and depositional processes and their landforms.
Tectonic Landforms are created by massive earth movements due to tectonic and volcanic

activity, and include landforms such as: mountains, rift valleys, volcanoes, and intrusive igneous landforms
Depositional Landforms are produced from the deposition of weathered and eroded surface

materials. Depositional landforms include features such as: beaches, barrier islands, spits, deltas, flood plains, dunes, alluvial fans, and glacial moraines.
The Volcano erupting Floodplain deposits at the confluence of Rivers.

11 Source: wikimedia commons Copyright Google Earth 200

Destructive Processes
Destructive processes create landforms through weathering and erosion of surface

materials facilitated by water, wind, ice, and gravity. Mass-wasting events occur in areas where weathering and erosion is accelerated.
Weathering is the disintegration and decomposition of rock at or near the Earths surface by mechanical, chemical, or biological weathering processes. Erosion is the removal and transportation of weathered or unweathered materials by water, wind, ice, and gravity. Mass-Wasting is a rapid period of weathering and erosion that removes and transports materials very quickly and is often triggered by an environmental stimuli. Mass wasting includes rock falls, landslides, debris and mud flows, slumps, and creep. Landforms formed by destructive processes include river and stream valleys,

waterfalls, glacial valleys, karst landscapes, coastal cliffs, and wave-cut scarps.

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Genetic Landform Classification

The genetic landform classification system groups landforms by the dominant set of geomorphic processes responsible for their formation. This includes the following processes and associated landforms: Tectonic Landforms Extrusive Igneous Landforms Intrusive Igneous Landforms Fluvial Landforms Karst Landforms Aeolian Landforms Coastal Landforms Ocean Floor Topography Glacial Landforms

Within each of these genetic classifications, the resulting landforms are a product of either constructive and destructive processes or a combination of both.
Landforms are also influenced by other agents or processes including time, climate, and human activity.

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Tectonic Landforms
Mountains: Orogenesis and Deformation
Folding Faulting Fractures Domes and Basins Horst and Graben Rift Valleys

Major Mountain Ranges: Rocky Mountains Appalachian Mountains Himalayan Mountains Andes Mountains

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Orogenesis
Orogenesis is the thickening of the continental crust and the building of mountains over millions of years and it translates from Greek as birth of mountains, (oros is the Greek word for mountain). Orogeny encompasses all aspects of mountain formation including plate tectonics, terrane accretion, regional metamorphism, thrusting, folding, faulting, and igneous intrusions. Orogenesis is primarily covered in the plate tectonics section of the earth science education materials, but it is important to review for the landform section because it includes deformation processes responsible for mountain building.

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Photo courtesy of SCGS, SCDNR

Deformation
Deformation processes deform or alter the earths crust by extreme stress or pressure in the crust and mantle. Most deformation occurs along plate margins from plate tectonic movements. Folding and faulting are the most common deformation processes.

Folding occurs when rocks are compressed such that the layers buckle and fold.
Faulting occurs when rocks fracture under the accumulation of extreme stress created by compression and extensional forces.

Both of these folds are in biotite-rich gneiss from, the areas where the folds are most pronounced contain greater amounts of quartz from the granitic composition of the rock. The scale card shows us that the rock on the left contains smaller folds than the rock on the right.

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Folding
Folding occurs when rocks are compressed or deformed and they buckle under the stress. The diagram below is a cartoon illustrating how rocks fold.

The crest of the fold, where the rock layers slope downward form the anticline. The valley of the fold where the layers slope toward the lower axis form the syncline.
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Folding
Anticlines and synclines can take on slightly different geometries depending on the compressional forces that form them. Very intense compressional forces form tight isoclinal folds, less intense compressional forces produce open folds. Folds can be asymmetric, upright, overturned, or curved. A fold pushed all the way over onto its side is called recumbent. Twisting or tilting during rock deformation and compression can cause folds to form at different angles. Some folds are very small and can be viewed in hand held specimens, while other folds are as large as a mountain and can be viewed from aerial photos.

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Folding
Anticline exposed . The man in the bottom of the photo helps show the scale of the folds. Syncline valley between mountain peaks.

Overturned folds in the Table Rock gneiss

Recumbent folds in limestone.

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Faulting
Faulting occurs when the rocks fail under deformation processes. A fault is a planar discontinuity along which displacement of the rocks occurs. There are four basic types of faulting: normal, reverse, strike-slip, and oblique.

Normal
1. 2. 3. Normal: rocks above the fault plane, or hanging wall, move down relative to the rocks below the fault plane, or footwall. Reverse: rocks above the hanging wall moves up relative to the footwall Strike-slip: rocks on either side of a nearly vertical fault plane move horizontally Oblique-slip: normal or reverse faults have some strike-slip movement, or when strike-slip faults have normal or reverse movement

Strike-Slip

Reverse

4.

Geologists recognize faults by looking for off-set rock layers in outcrops. Faults may also be recognized by debris, breccia, clay, or rock fragments that break apart or are pulverized during the movement of the rocks along the fault plane. Fault gouge is a term used to describe the material produced by faulting. If a fault plane is exposed, there may be grooves, striations (scratches), and slickenslides (symmetrical fractures) that show evidence of the rocks movement. Large fault systems, such as the San Andreas fault can be seen from aerial imagery.
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Faulting

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Faulting
The San Andreas fault is the largest fault system in North America and it runs for nearly 780 miles through western California and in some places the width of the fault zone is 60 miles. The San Andreas fault is a transform boundary between the Pacific Plate on the west and the North American Plate to the east. The Pacific Plate is moving northwestward against the North American Plate. This motion generates earthquakes along the fault that pose significant hazards to people and alters the physical landscape.

Photo: South Carolina Geological Survey

These two faults are from South Carolinas Piedmont. These faults are evident by the off-set igneous intrusions in the rock.

Offset in stream valley from San Andreas Fault movement

Copyright Michael Collier

Photo: South Carolina Geological Survey

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Fractures and Joints

Joints occur where a rock breaks but there is no displacement or faulting associated with the break. Joints are not singular features, but they occur in sets within a given type or area of a rock. Fractures are breaks in rocks that are often singular more random features and are not associated with a set of joints. Fractures often occur in association with faults or folds. Crustal movements, deformation, or other tectonic related movements can cause rocks to joint or fracture. Joints and fractures form from compression, tension, or shear stress and can range in size from millimeters to kilometers. Common forms of jointing are columnar, sheet jointing, and tensional joints. Columnar jointing occurs when igneous rocks cool and develop shrinkage joints along pillar-like columns. Sheeting joints occur when the layers of rock release pressure and exfoliate along parallel planes. Brittle fractures and tensional joints are caused by regionally extensive compressional or elongated pressures along folds in the crustal rocks. Sometimes, jointing is obvious, but the processes that caused it may be unknown, or difficult to identify. Fractures and joints create a variety of pathways for water to flow through, which weaken the rock and facilitate chemical, biological, and mechanical weathering processes.

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Jointing

The image below is of vertical jointed, bedded metasandstone in the Snake Range in Nevada.

Copyright Bruce Molnia, USGS Copyright Larry Fellows, Arizona Geological Survey

These two images are an example of columnar jointing. The image on the top is a side view and the image below is from the top. These hexagonal columns of rock formed from cooled basalt are part of Devils Postpile National Monument in California.

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Domes and Basins

Domes and basins are large, elongated folds formed by broad warping processes including mantle convection, isostatic adjustment, or swelling from a hot spot. Upwarping produces domes, while downwarping produces basins. Geologists identify dome and basin structures by the stratified ages of the rock folds: Domes contain strata which increase in age toward the center as the younger layers are eroded from the top and sides. Basins contain strata which is youngest toward the center and the oldest rocks form the flanks or sides.
This geologic map of the Michigan Basin illustrates the circular pattern of the sedimentary strata. The green color in the center of the map represents the youngest rocks which are Upper Pennsylvanian; and the rocks progressively increase in age toward the periphery where the reddish-orange colors represent the oldest rocks flanking this structure which are Ordovician and Cambrian age.

Oldest Rocks (Ordivician and Cambrian) Youngest rocks (Upper Pennsylvanian)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Basin

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Horst and Graben: Basin and Range

Horst and graben topography is generated by normal faulting associated with crustal extension. The central block termed graben is bounded by normal faults and the graben drops as the crust separates. The graben forms an elongated valley that is bound by uplifted ridge-like mountainous structures referred to as horsts. Some horsts may tilt slightly producing asymmetric, tilted terrane or mountain ranges. In the Western United States, horst and graben fault sequences are described as Basin and Range topography.
Basin and Range topography, Nevada.

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Rift Valleys
Rift valleys are fault structures formed by normal faults. Rising magma below the crust upwells, forcing the lithosphere to fracture, as it fractures and cracks, one or more faults cause the crustal rocks to separate forming a rift valley. Rift valleys can eventually form lakes or seas such as the Red Sea, which separates Africa from the Arabian Peninsula. Rift valleys can become inactive and fill in with volcanic material, such as the rift structure in the United States which extends from Lake Superior to Oklahoma.

Rift Valleys in Africa

East African Rift Valley Lake

www.visibleearth.nasa.gov

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Major Mountain Ranges of the World

Antarctica: Antarctic Peninsula, Transantarctic Mountains Africa: Atlas, Eastern African Highlands, Ethiopian Highlands Asian: Himalayas, Taurus, Elburz, Japanese Mountains Australia: MacDonnell Mountains Europe: Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians, Apennines, Urals, Balkan Mountains North American: Appalachians, Sierra Nevada, Rocky Mountains, Laurentides South American: Andes, Brazilian Highlands
European Alps Rocky Mountains Himalaya Mountains

Appalachian Mountains

Andes Mountains

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Watershed and Geomorphology

Effect of water on landscape
To assess the impact of water flow on the transport of materials sediment and solutes

Effect of landscape on water

Runoff is controlled by inputs from climate, and the physical properties of the watershed (geology, soils, land use, land cover)
A long-term dynamic equilibrium exists between climate and earth materials, resulting in watershed shape, that dictates the short-term hydrologic response

Watershed Geomorphology
Watershed geomorphology refers to the physical
characteristics of the watershed.

Certain physical properties of watersheds significantly affect the characteristics of runoff and as such are of great interest in hydrologic analyses.

Watershed and Geomorphology

WHAT IS WATERSHED
The watershed is the basic unit of all hydrologic analysis and designs. Any watershed can be subdivided in to a set of smaller watersheds. Usually a watershed is defined for a given drainage point. This point is usually the location at which the analysis is being made and is referred to as the watershed outlet. The watershed, therefore, consists of all the land area that drains water to the outlet during a rainstorm. The boundary of a watershed therefore consists of the line drown across the contours joining the highest elevations surrounding the basin. Watersheds considered in engineering hydrology vary in size from a few hectares in urban areas to several thousand square kilometers for large river basins.

Components of a watershed
Ridges/divides Hillslopes Gullies, rills, Ephemeral channels Floodplains Riparian zones Perennial channels Vegetation Soils Aquifers Bedrock

CHARACTERISTICS OF WATERSHEDS
Hortons Laws
Horton (from Hortons infiltration equation fame) developed a set of laws that are indicators of the geomorphologic characteristics of watershed.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WATERSHEDS
The principal watershed characteristics are -

Area of the watershed:

The area of watershed is also known as the drainage area and it is the most important watershed characteristic for hydrologic analysis. It reflects the volume of water that can be generated from a rainfall. Thus the drainage area is required as input to models ranging from simple linear prediction equations to complex computer models. Once the watershed has been delineated, its area can be determined, either by approximate map methods or by GIS.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WATERSHEDS
The principal watershed characteristics are -

Length of watershed:
Conceptually this is the distance traveled by the surface drainage and it is also called hydrologic length.

This length is usually used in computing a time parameter, which is a measure of the travel time of water through a watershed.
The watershed length is therefore measured along the principal flow path from the watershed outlet to the basin boundary. Since the channel does not extend up to the basin boundary, it is necessary to extend a line from the end of the channel to the basin boundary. The measurement follows a path where the greatest volume of water would generally travel.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WATERSHEDS
The principal watershed characteristics are -

Slope of watershed:
Watershed slope affects the momentum of runoff. Both watershed and channel slope may be of interest. Watershed slope reflects the rate of change of elevation with respect to distance along the principal flow path. It is usually calculated as the elevation difference between the endpoints of the main flow path divided by the length. The elevation difference may not necessarily be the maximum elevation difference within the watershed since the point.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WATERSHEDS
The principal watershed characteristics are -

Slope of watershed:
Watershed slope affects the momentum of runoff. Both watershed and channel slope may be of interest.

Watershed slope reflects the rate of change of elevation with respect to distance along the principal flow path.
It is usually calculated as the elevation difference between the endpoints of the main flow path divided by the length. The elevation difference may not necessarily be the maximum elevation difference within the watershed since the point of highest elevation may occur along a side boundary of the watershed rather than at the end of the principal flow path.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WATERSHEDS
The principal watershed characteristics are -

Slope of watershed:
Watershed slope affects the momentum of runoff. Both watershed and channel slope may be of interest.

Watershed slope reflects the rate of change of elevation with respect to distance along the principal flow path.
It is usually calculated as the elevation difference between the endpoints of the main flow path divided by the length. The elevation difference may not necessarily be the maximum elevation difference within the watershed since the point of highest elevation may occur along a side boundary of the watershed rather than at the end of the principal flow path.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WATERSHEDS
The principal watershed characteristics are -

Shape of Watershed
Basin shape is not usually used directly in hydrologic design methods; however, parameters that reflect basin shape are used occasionally and have a conceptual basis. Watersheds have an infinite variety of shapes, and the shape supposedly reflects the way that runoff will bunch up at the outlet. A circular watershed would result in runoff from various parts of the watershed reaching the outlet at the same time. An elliptical watershed having the outlet at one end of the major axis and having the same area as the circular watershed would cause the runoff to be spread out over time, thus producing a smaller flood peak than that of the circular watershed.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WATERSHEDS
A number of watershed parameters have been developed to reflect basin shape. Following are few typical parameters:

Length to the centroid of area (Lca):

The distance measured along the main channel from the basin outlet to the point on the main channel opposite the center of area (centroid).

Shape Factor (Ll) : Ll = (LLca)

Where L is the length of the watershed. ( = 0.3 for length measurements in miles)

CHARACTERISTICS OF WATERSHEDS
A number of watershed parameters have been developed to reflect basin shape. Following are few typical parameters: Circularity ratio (Fc):

Fc = P/(4A)0.5
Where P and A are the perimeter and area of the watershed, respectively.

Circularity ratio (Rc): Rc = A/Ao

Where A0 is the area of a circle having a perimeter equal to the perimeter of the basin.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WATERSHEDS
A number of watershed parameters have been developed to reflect basin shape. Following are few typical parameters:

Elongation Ratio (Re):

Re = 2/Lm(A/)0.5
Where Lm is the maximum length of the basin parallel to the principal drainage lines.

Generally, the shape factor (Ll) is the best descriptor of peak discharge. It is negatively correlated with peak discharge (i.e. as the Ll decreases, peak discharge increases).

CHARACTERISTICS OF WATERSHEDS
The principal watershed characteristics are Land use and soil characteristics of watershed Land use and soil characteristics affect both the volume and timing of runoff. During a rainstorm, flow from an impervious, steeply sloped, and smooth, surface make a little retardation and no loss to the flow. In comparison, flow along a pervious grassy hill of the same size will produce retardation and significant loss to the flow due to infiltration. Many hydrological analyses deal with assessing the effect of land use changes on runoff. Surface roughness, soil characteristics such as texture, soil structure, soil moisture and hydrologic soil groups also affect the runoff in various ways.

Longitudinal Profile and Watersheds

1 2 3 3 1 2 1 1 1

Headwaters: multiple low-order streams near drainage divide

Longitudinal River Profile

Headwaters

3,000
5

Elevation (feet)

Ultimate Base level

0 100 River Length (Miles) 0

Base level: single outflow and highest order stream

Stream Order: 1st order and 1st order = 2nd order 2nd order and 2nd order = 3rd order 3rd order and 3rd order = 4th order 4th order and 4th order = 5th order And so on, 5 and 5 =6, 6 and 6 =7th order

This diagram outlines the longitudinal profile of a river basin from the headwaters to the ultimate base level, or sea level. A rivers gradient is steepest near the headwaters and gentlest near the base level. In

This figure is a hypothetical river basin. The black dotted line represents the drainage divide and the numbers refer to stream order. Any rainfall that falls within the black dotted line will eventually flow into the main stem river and out at the mouth. Stream order increases from the headwaters to the base level. In this example, the river is a5th-order river.

45 Table of Contents

Channel Geomorphology
In addition to the drainage area and the watershed length, the channel length is used frequently in hydrologic computation. The runoff produced by a watershed is also highly dependent on the channel characteristics.
The stream order is a measure of the degree of stream branching within a watershed. Each length of stream is indicated by its order (for example, first-order, second-order, etc.). A first-order stream is an unbranched tributary, a second-order stream is a tributary formed by two or more first-order streams. A third-order stream is a tributary formed by two or more secondorder streams and so on. In general, an nth order stream is a tributary formed by two or more streams of order (n-1) and streams of lower order.

Channel Geomorphology
Hortons Laws of Drainage Networks

Slope: The channel slope is determined as the elevation difference between the endpoints of the main channel divided by the channel.. The concept of stream order is used to compute other indicators of drainage character. The bifurcation ratio (Rb) is defined as the ratio of the number of streams of any order to the number of streams of the next highest order. Values of Rb typically range from the theoretical minimum of 2 to around 6. Typically, the values range from 3 to 5. The bifurcation ratio is calculated as Rb = Ni/Ni+!

Channel Geomorphology
Drainage Density
The drainage density, D is the ratio of the total length of streams within a watershed to the total area of the watershed; thus D has units of the reciprocal of length (1/L). A high value of the drainage density would indicate a relatively high density of streams and thus a rapid storm response. Values typically ranges from 1.5 to 6 km/km2. D = Lt/A
Hortons Laws of Drainage Networks

Channel Geomorphology
Hortons Laws of Drainage Networks

Law of Stream Numbers - which relates the number of streams of order I (Ni) to the bifurcation ratio and the principal stream order (k) Ni = Rbk-1 Law of Stream Lengths - in which the average lengths of the streams of successive orders are related by a length ratio RL: RL = Li+1/Li Li = L1rLi-1

Channel Geomorphology
Law of Stream Areas - to relate the average areas Ai drained by streams of successive order RA= Ai+1/Ai

Schumm (1956) proposed

Channel Geomorphology

Morphometric Parameters
Morphometric parameter Stream order Stream length (Lu) Formula/ Relationship Hierarchical rank Length of stream Lsm = Lu/ Nu , where, Lu = total stream length of order 'u', Nu = total number of stream segments of order 'u' RL = Lu/ Lu-1, where, Lu = total stream length of order 'u', Lu -1 = the total stream length of its next lower order Rb = Nu/ Nu+1, Nu = total number of stream segments of order 'u', Nu+1 = number of stream segments of the next higher order Reference Strahler, 1964 Horton, 1945

Mean stream length (Lsm)

Strahler, 1964

Stream length ratio (RL)

Horton, 1945

Bifurcation ratio (Rb) Mean bifurcation ratio (Rbm)

Schumn, 1956

Rbm = average of the bifurcation ratio of all order Rh = H/Lb, where H = total relief (relative relief) of the basin, Lb = basin length

Strahler, 1957

Relief ratio (Rh)

Schumn, 1956

Morphometric Parameters

Morphometric parameter Drainage density (D) Stream frequency (Fs) Drainage texture (Rt) Form factor (Rf) Circulatory ratio (Rc) Elongation ratio (Re) Length of overland flow (Lg)

Formula/ Relationship

Reference Horton, 1932 Horton, 1932

D = Lu/A, where A is the total area of the basin (km2), Lu is the total stream length of all orders
Fs = Nu/A, where Nu is the total number of streams of all order, A is basin area in km2 Rt = Nu/P, where Nu is the total number of streams of all order, P is the perimeter of the basin in km2 Rf = A/ Lb2, where Lb2 is the square of the basin length (km),A is the basin area in km2 Re = 4* *A/ P2, where A is the area (km2) and P is the perimeter (km) of the watershed Re = 2 sqrt(A/ )/Lb, where A is the area (km2) and P is the perimeter (km) of the watershed Lg = 1/(D*2), where D is the drainage density

Horton, 1945 Horton, 1932 Miller, 1953 Schumn, 1956 Horton, 1945

Hortons Laws of Drainage Networks

Ratios tend to be similar for all rivers

= =

+1

Bifurcation ratio Law of stream areas Law of stream lengths

Satellite Images of Two Watersheds

Year 2002

Drainage Network

Year 1977

Drainage Network

Year 2005

Morphometry of Sub-watersheds
Year 1977

Subwatershed

Stream order 1

Number of streams Nu
429

Total length of streams in km (Lu) 128.63

Bifurcation ratio (Rb) 1.82

Mean bifurcation ratio (Rbm)

Mean stream length (Lsm) 0.300

Stream length ratio (RL)

2
Anasagar 3 4

236
103 30

53.29
28.97 8.17

2.29
3.43 2.14 2.42

0.226
0.281 0.272

0.414
0.544 0.282

5
1 2 Khanpura 3 4 5

14
608 297 136 73 14

8.68
145.15 49.83 31.53 17.03 11.23 2.05 2.18 1.86 5.21 2.83

0.620
0.239 0.168 0.232 0.233 0.802

1.062

0.343 0.633 0.540 0.660

Morphometry of Sub-watersheds
Year 2002

Subwatershed

Stream order 1 2

Number of streams Nu 358 189 93 26 20 509 267 90 78 14

Total length of streams in km (Lu) 114.56 49.28 26.05 7.96 8.24 129.60 59.19 22.60 19.26 10.32

Bifurcation ratio (Rb) 1.89 2.03 3.58 1.30

Mean bifurcation ratio (Rbm)

Mean stream length (Lsm) 0.320 0.261

Stream length ratio (RL)

0.430 0.529 0.306 1.035

Anasagar

3 4 5 1 2

2.201

0.280 0.306 0.412

1.91 2.97 1.15 5.57 2.899

0.255 0.222 0.251 0.247 0.737 0.457 0.382 0.852 0.536

Khanpura

3 4 5

Aerial Aspects of Morphology

Sub-watershed (1977) Morphometric parameter

Area (A) (km2)

Sub-watershed (2002) Anasagar

40.80

Anasagar
40.80

Khanpura
58.20

Khanpura
58.20

Perimeter (km) (P)

Drainage density (km/ km2) (D) Stream frequency (Fs) Drainage texture (Rt) (Unit/ km) Basin Length (km)

35.81
5.58 19.90 22.67 7.768

41.33
8.29 33.34 46.94 11.828

35.81
5.05 16.81 19.15 7.768

41.33
4.14 16.46 23.17 11.828

Elongation ratio (Re)

Circulatory ratio (Rc) Form factor (Rf) Length of overland flow (Lg) (km) Constant channel maintenance (C)

0.928
0.400 0.676 0.0896 0.179

0.728
0.428 0.416 0.0603 0.121

0.928
0.400 0.676 0.0990 0.198

0.728
0.428 0.416 0.1208 0.242

Relief (H) (km)

Relief Ratio (Rh)

0.394
0.051

0.270
0.023

0.394
0.051

0.270
0.023