A watershed forms an area that catches and drains all the runoff made from precipitation and snow melting through the streams. Understanding the physical aspects of a watershed is of prime importance for morphological and geomorphological assessments such as studying erosion, sediments, floods, water resources development, and go forth. Meanwhile, geomorphological parameters play a critical role due to affecting infiltration process. The current study is aimed at assessing some of morphometric indices which have been recently used in quantitative geomorphology. Hence, five indices were assessed namely vector ruggedness measure (VRM), the area ratio, topographic position index (TPI), plan curvature, and terrain ruggedness index (TRI) in the Chehel-Chai watershed located in the Golestan province. First, the digital elevation model were made and afterward corresponding indices’ maps were prepared using related equations and the extensions in ArcGIS. As a result, the VRM values were ranged from 0 to 0.478. Moreover, the TPI values were ranged between -23.31 and 77.81 distinguishing hollows and bumps, respectively. Also, the TRI index values, as the height difference between a pixel and the neighboring eight other ones, were ranged from 0 to 170.68 and the plan curvature values of the study area were bounded between -3.16 and 3.96. The watershed area ratio, as a representation of the real terrain surface proportional to the flat (2D) surface, were bounded between 1 and 2.55.
Jalali S, Samadi M, Samadi Gheshlaghchaee M, Kornejadi A. Investigation of Morphometric Indexes with GIS in Chel-Chay Watershed, Golestan Province. GEJ 2016; 7 (4) :37-48 URL: http://gej.issgeac.ir/article-1-169-en.html