Effect of morphometric factors in prioritizing flooding of sub-watersheds in the north of Birjand Plain

Document Type : Research/Original/Regular Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor/ Natural Resources Department, Faculty of Natural Resources , Environment, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran

2 Assistant Professor/ Natural Resources Department, Faculty of Natural Resources & Environment, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran

Abstract

Introduction
Flood is one of the most important threats to human society, which has increased in recent decades with the increase in population and climate change. Therefore, studying the features of the watershed, which are related to the level of flooding, can help in the correct management of this risk. Watersheds are different in morphological characteristics, so they have different hydrological reactions in the same climatic and environmental conditions. The stability of the morphometric characteristics of the sub-watersheds has made them used in flood studies. So the investigation of the morphometric factors of the watersheds can be of great help to the management and prioritization of flood sub-watersheds. In this research, an attempt has been made to introduce and prioritize flood-prone sub-watersheds using morphometric data in the environment of the geographic information system in the north of Birjand Plain, using the maximum entropy method and VIKOR decision-making model.
 
Materials and Methods
This plain is located at a longitude of 58˚ 45́ to 59˚ 30̋ and a latitude of 32˚ 30̋ to 33˚. The area of the Birjand Plain watershed is 3155 km2, of which 1045 km2 are plains (33 %) and the rest are highlands. In this research, morphometric factors (14 factors), entropy method, and VIKOR decision-making method were used to prioritize 22 sub-watersheds in the north of Birjand Plain. Since the morphological factors of the aquifer basin have different effects on the processes of runoff formation, there is a need to determine the effects of the parameters, which Shannon's entropy method is used in this research. In the following, using the VIKOR method, sub-watersheds are prioritized.
 
Results and Discussion
Morphometric factors are important in identifying and determining flood risk areas. The effect of morphometric factors on flooding is not the same, so it is necessary to determine the importance of each parameter. Shannon's entropy method was used to determine the impact of different morphometric factors (13 parameters) on flooding in the northern Birjand Plain watershed. The results showed that the Vf index with a relative importance of 0.51 has the greatest effect on flooding and prioritization of sub-watersheds in the study area. In prioritizing the flooding of sub-watersheds, all factors are not the same in terms of influence, so some factors have a positive effect and some criteria have a negative effect on flooding, for example, the more the amount of drainage density increases, the more it has a positive effect and causes an increase in flooding. It is possible that if the parameter of the channel maintenance index is lower, the flooding will be more. This attitude and point of view have not been seen in many studies, but in this research, the nature of the parameters was determined based on the opinions of experts and previous studies. In this study, the increase of watershed asymmetry indices, tissue ratio index, channel maintenance index, and valley width to height ratio index have a negative effect, that is, with their increase, there is less flooding, and other factors have a positive effect, that is, with their increase, flooding, and runoff production also increase.
  
Conclusion
Watershed projects are one of the most important strategies for flood control. The implementation of watershed projects for flood control requires the determination of flood-producing areas and their prioritization. Considering the lack of sufficient hydrometric stations at the level of the sub-watersheds and the lack of recorded statistics and information about floods in the country's watersheds, it is practically impossible to infer the severity of sub-watershed floods from the available data alone. Therefore, it is appropriate to use methods such as morphometric factors that require less hydrometric and quantitative data. There are various methods for determining the amount of runoff and prioritizing sub-watersheds in terms of flooding, and most of these methods are based on graphical methods and the use of empirical formulas, statistical analysis of flood data, and watershed separation. In this research, 14 morphometric parameters were used to prioritize floods in the north of Birjand Plain, because the morphometric characteristics of each sub-watershed are like its fingerprint, and it is possible to prioritize sub-watersheds for flood control based on that. In this research, sub-watersheds 9, 22, and 14 were prioritized from one to three, respectively, based on morphometric criteria.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

 
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Water and Soil Management and Modelling
Volume 3, Issue 3
2023
Pages 240-255

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History

  • Receive Date: 27 November 2022
  • Revise Date: 30 December 2022
  • Accept Date: 30 December 2022

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