Link between Flow Regime and the Catchment Hypsometry: Analysis of South Australian Basins
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 17, Issue 12
Abstract
The quantitative analysis of the hypsometric integral (HI) and other statistical moments (e.g., kurtosis and skewness) of hypsometric curves conducted using a total of 195 main catchments and 223 subcatchments from South Australia reveal that most of the study catchments are at either a young or mature stage of landscape development, which indicates that they are at a high risk of future erosion if disturbed by anthropogenic activities. Results of this study indicated significant correlations among hypsometric attributes, confirming the relationships proposed by previous studies between landscape features and hypsometry. No significant correlation between hypsometric characteristics (e.g., HI and poly skew) and selected flow statistics [mean (), coefficient of variation (cv), lag-one auto correlation coefficient (), and Q50-Q10 range flow duration values] was found for South Australian catchments. Contrary to some of the previous study outcomes, no significant vertical or horizontal scale dependency of the HI was observed in this study. Further study recommendations are provided in the conclusion.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Murray Peel for the support given in developing the Macro VB program and Professor Tom McMahon and Associate Professor Brian Finlayson for helping to understand the subject of hypsometry during the second author’s study leave at the Univ. of Melbourne.
References
Allamano, P., Claps, P., and Laio, F. (2009). “An analytical model of the effects of catchment elevation on the flood frequency distribution.” Water Resour. Res., 45(1), W01402.
Ansan, V., and Mangold, N. (2006). “New observations of Warrego Valles, Mars: Evidence for precipitation and surface runoff.” Planet. Space Sci., 54(3), 219–242.
Awasthi, K. D., Sitaula, B. K., Singh, B. R., and Bajacharaya, R. M. (2002). “Land-use change in two Nepalese watersheds: GIS and geomorphometric analysis.” Land Degrad. Dev., 13(6), 495–513.
Brandes, D., Hoffmann, J. G., and Mangarillo, J. T. (2005). “Base flow recession rates, low flows, and hydrologic features of small watersheds in Pennsylvania, USA.” J. Am. Water Res. Assoc., 41(5), 1177–1186.
Bureau of Meteorology. (2010). “Average rainfall—Annual.” Climate, http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/climate/cgi_bin_scripts/annual_rnfall.cgi (Mar. 22, 2010).
Chen, Y.-C., Sung, Q., and Cheng, K.-Y. (2003). “Along-strike variations of morphotectonic features in the Western Foothills of Taiwan: Tectonic implications based on stream-gradient and hypsometric analysis.” Geomorphology, 56(1–2), 109–137.
ESRI. (2001). “ArcGIS Desktop (Release 10).” Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, CA.
Geoscience Australia. (2008). “GEODATA 9 Second Digital Elevation Model (DEM-9S) (Version 3). ANZCW0703011541.” Geoscience Australia, Canberra, ACT.
Guo, Y. P., and Quader, A. (2009). “Derived flow-duration relationships for surface runoff dominated small urban streams.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 14(1), 42–52.
Harlin, J. M. (1978). “Statistical moments of the hypsometric curve and its density function.” Math. Geol., 10(1), 59–72.
Howard, A. D. (1990). “Role of hypsometry and planform in basin hydrologic response.” Hydrol. Processes, 4(4), 373–385.
Huang, X., and Niemann, J. D. (2008). “How do streamflow generation mechanisms affect watershed hypsometry?” Earth Surf. Processes Landforms, 33(5), 751–772.
Hurtrez, J. E., Sol, C., and Lucazeau, F. (1999). “Effect of drainage area on hypsometry from an analysis of small-scale drainage basins in the Siwalik Hills (Central Nepal).” Earth Surf. Processes Landforms, 24(9), 799–808.
Kisters Pty Ltd. (2007). Hydstra (Version 9.5.6), 〈http://www.kisters.com.au/english/html/au/homepage.html〉.
Kowall, S. J. (1976). “The hypsometric integral and low streamflow in two Pennsylvania provinces.” Water Resour. Res., 12(3), 497–502.
Kroll, C., Luz, J., Allen, B., and Vogel, R. M. (2004). “Developing a watershed characteristics database to improve low streamflow prediction.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 9(2), 116–125.
Kroll, C. N., and Stedinger, J. R. (1999). “Development of regional regression relationships with censored data.” Water Resour. Res., 35(5) (Compendex), 775–784.
Kroll, C. N., and Vogel, R. M. (2002). “Probability distribution of low streamflow series in the United States.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 7(2), 137–146.
Luo, W. (1998). “Hypsometric analysis with a geographic information system.” Comput. Geosciences, 24(8), 815–821.
Luo, W. (2000). “Quantifying groundwater-sapping landforms with a hypsometric techique.” J. Geophys. Res., 105(E1), 1685–1694.
Luo, W., and Harlin, J. M. (2003). “A theoritical travel time based on watershed hypsometry.” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 39(4), 785–792.
Marani, M., Eltahir, E., and Rinaldo, A. (2001). “Geomorphic controls on regional base flow.” Water Resour. Res, 37(10), 2619–2630.
Modarres, R., and Sarhadi, A. (2010). “Frequency distribution of extreme hydrologic drought of southeastern semiarid region, Iran.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 15(4), 255–264.
Pedrera, A., Pérez-Peña, J. V., Galindo-Zaldívar, J., Azañón, J. M., and Azor, A. (2009). “Testing the sensitivity of geomorphic indices in areas of low-rate active folding (eastern Betic Cordillera, Spain).” Geomorphology, 105(3–4), 218–231.
Pérez-Peña, J. V., Azañón, J. M., and Azor, A. (2009a). “CalHypso: An ArcGIS extension to calculate hypsometric curves and their statistical moments. Applications to drainage basin analysis in SE Spain.” Comput. Geosciences, 35(6), 1214–1223.
Pérez-Peña, J. V., Azañón, J. M., Booth-Rea, G., Azor, A., and Delgado, J. (2009b). “Differentiating geology and tectonics using a spatial autocorrelation technique for the hypsometric integral.” J. Geophys. Res., 114(F2), F02018.
Rodriguez-Iturbe, I., and Valdes, J. (1979). “The geomorphologic structure of the hydrologic response.” Water Resour. Res., 15(6), 1409–1420.
Singh, O., Sarangi, A., and Sharma, M. (2008). “Hypsometric integral estimation methods and its relevance on erosion status of North-Western Lesser Himalayan watersheds.” Water Resour. Manage., 22(11), 1545–1560.
Smakhtin, V. U. (2001). “Low flow hydrology: A review.” J. Hydrol., 240(3–4), 147–186.
Strahler, A. N. (1952). “Hypsometric (area-altitude) analysis of erosional topography.” Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 63, 1117–1141.
Verstraeten, G., and Poesen, J. (2001). “Factors controlling sediment yield from small intensively cultivated catchments in a temperate humid climate.” Geomorphology, 40(1–2), 123–144.
Vivoni, E. R., Di Benedetto, F., Grimaldi, S., and Eltahir, E. A. B. (2008). “Hypsometric control on surface and subsurface runoff.” Water Resour. Res., 44(12), W12502.
Walcott, R. C., and Summerfield, M. A. (2008). “Scale dependence of hypsometric integrals: An analysis of southeast African basins.” Geomorphology, 96(1–2), 174–186.
Yue, S., and Pilon, P. (2005). “Probability distribution type of Canadian annual minimum streamflow.” Hydrol. Sci., 50(3), 427–438.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 17 • Issue 12 • December 2012
Pages: 1287 - 1295
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 22, 2010
Accepted: Nov 23, 2011
Published online: Nov 25, 2011
Published in print: Dec 1, 2012
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.