Seif and Mokarram / Journal of Environment (2013), Vol. 02, Issue 04, pp.

90-93

ISSN 2049-8373

Research Paper

Quantitative Relationships between Characteristics of

Drainage Basin and Alluvial Fan
Abdollah Seif 1 and Marzieh Mokarram2
1,2
Deparmtne of Geography, University of Isfahan, Iran
E-Mail: abdsafe@yahoo.com1; m.mokarram.313@gmail.com2

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

(Figure 1) (Athol & Anthony, 1994).

Alluvial fans develop at the base of drainages where feeder
channels release their solid load (Leeder et al, 1998; Harvey et al, 2005 and Blair & McPherson, 2009). A classic
fan-shape forms where there is a well-defined topographic
apex. Multiple feeder channels, however, often blur the
fan-shape resulting in a merged bajada. Alluvial fans can
be found in almost all terrestrial settings. These include alpine (Beaudoin & King, 1994), humid tropical (Iriondo,
1994 and Thomas, 2003), humid mid-latitude (Bettis, 2003
and Mills, 2005), Mediterranean (Robinson et al, 2005 and
Thorndrycraft & Benito, 2006) and different paraglacial
settings (Ballantyne, 2002).
Alluvial fans are of practical and economic importance to
society, particularly in arid and semiarid areas where they
may be the principal groundwater source for irrigation farming and the sustenance of life. In some instances, entire

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cities, such as Los Angeles, have been built on alluvial

fans (Giles et al, 2010).

Figure 2. Location of the Study Area

Figure 1. Position of a Number of the Alluvial Fan in the

Catchment Area

Many studies have related the characteristics of alluvial

fans (size and gradient, sedimentary structure) to those of
the basin i.e. size, sediment yield, plant cover and type of
sediment transfer (Hooke, 1968), confirming the complex
relationships between geomorphic and hydrological processes on the hill slopes, sediment transfer and fan occurrence.
This paper analyses the factors which are related to the
presence or absence of alluvial fans in a playa and pediment area: the East of Fars province, Iran. The factors analyzed were physical, including distinct morphological i.e.
drainage basin area, fans apex, basin relief, fans area, fans
length, fans slop and fans concavity. Also, the correlation
between morphometric parameters of alluvial fans and
drainage basins was determined.

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.

Figure 3. Geological Map of the Study Area

3. Material and Method

Geometric and morphometric data sources for this study
were based on digital topographic maps i.e. 1:50000,
1:25000 and Digital Elevation Model (DEM 10x10 m)
(ASTER DEM90m). In order to prepare other maps topographic maps (1:25000 and 1:50000) were used. In the study ArcGIS 10, ArcHydro and WMS8.4 software were used. Fan boundary was extracted by DEM. Then different
parameters of morphometry such as slope, direction, etc
has prepared (Table 1 and Figure 4). Finally, correlation of
morphological parameters were evaluated.

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).

Figure 4. Position Investigated Alluvial Fans in the Study Area

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Seif and Mokarram / Journal of Environment (2013), Vol. 02, Issue 04, pp. 90-93

4. Result and Discussion

In order to determine status of each fan longitudinal profiles have been used (Figure 5).

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The transverse profile reveals a pronounced asymmetry of

the slopes. With distance from the altitude is low slope and
sediments are deposited to create and Fans. The steepest
sectors are Fan 8, Fan 6 and Fan 4. From parameters in

Table 1. Morphometric Parameters For The Fans In Study Area

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

Table 1, the highest correlation was found between the

alluvial fan area and catchment area that is shown in the
graph (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Drainage Basin Area versus Fan Area

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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