Watershed Characteristics&

morphology

By:
Dr. Samia Abou El-Ftouh
Definitions
 A drainage basin or catchment basin is an extent
or an area of land where surface
water from rain, melting snow, or ice converges to a
single point at a lower elevation, usually the exit of
the basin, where the waters join another waterbody,
such as a river, lake, reservoir.

 a watershed is defined as the area that appears, on

the basis of topography, to contribute all the water
that passes through a given cross section of a stream.

 The drainage area reflects the volume of water the

can be generated from rainfall and that is available for
runoff.
 Catchment

The
One Other
Catchment

Catchment Area

Watershed divides the flow of water along

different slopes.
Picture Shows Two Catchments
Watershed Delineation
• Creating a boundary that represents the
contributing area for a particular control point or
outlet

• Used to define boundaries of the study area, and/or

to divide the study area into sub-areas.

• The area of watershed is defined by watershed

delineation that can be done manually or using
computer programs (WMS – Arc GIS)

• Drainage divide is the boundary line along a

topographic ridge, separating two adjacent drainage
basins
Examples for
watershed
The characteristics of the drainage
basin
 Drainage area A & slope
 The number of streams Ns
 The length of streams Ls
 stream density

 drainage density
Watershed Shapes
Factors Affecting runoff
• Rainfall characteristics (type of storm and season ,
intensity , duration , frequency)
• Metrological factors (temperature, humidity, wind
velocity, pressure difference)
• Watershed Factor (size, shape, topography, geology ,
land use)
• Storage Characteristics(Depressions , Ponds, lakes ,
pools, Streams , Channels, dams ,Ground water storage)
 Hydromorphology

 factors affect the hydraulic character of drainage

system

 1-Drainage Area
 2-Watershed Length
 3-Watershed Slope
 4-Watershed Shape
 5-Land Cover and use
 6- Hydraulic Roughness
 7- Drainage Density
 8-Antecedent Moisture Conditions
 Hydrograph
•What can we get from hydrograph

•a) the peak runoff flows(Qp)

•b) To estimate runoff volume.

Qp

Volume of runoff

Time
The influence of catchment
characteristics on hydrographs
Exercise: catchment characteristics - hydrographs

Steeper catchment

Less rough catchment

Lesser storage capacity

More connections between

impervious areas
The influence of partial rain coverage
Time of Concentration
•Concentration point or measuring point
the single point or location at which all surface
drainage from a basin comes together or
concentrates as outflow from the basin in the stream
channel.
Time of Concentration, Tc: Time required
for water to travel from the most
hydraulically remote point in the basin to the
basin outlet.
Time of Concentration
 Time of Concentration

•Tc can be related to catchment area, slope

etc. using the Kirpich equation:
• Tc = 0.015 L 0.77 S – 0.385
•Tc is the time of concentration (min);
• L is the maximum length of flow (m);
•S is the watershed gradient (m/m).
 Time of Concentration

Et

L Eo

S = (Et - Eo)/L where Et is the elevation at top of the

watershed and Eo is the elevation at the outlet.
• Norton formula
• The time of concentration calculated by
HORTON formula is given by:
• Tc = L/(3.6v)
• Where:
• Tc : Time of concentration (H),
• L : Talweg Length (km),
• v : Mean velocity (m/s)
• Pezzoli formula
• The time of concentration calculated by
PEZZOLI formula is given by:
• Tc = 0.055 L/ P0.5
• Where:
• Tc : Time of concentration (H),
• L : Talweg Length (km),
• P : Average slope of the principal
talweg (m/m).
•