Activity #3

1. How can watersheds be classified?

Watersheds can be classified using any measurable characteristics in the area like size, shape,
location, ground water exploitation, and land use. However, the main classification of watershed is
discussed on the basis of size and land use.

➢ Size: The main implication of watershed size appears in terms of spatial heterogeneity of
hydrological processes. The spatial variability of watershed characteristic increases with
size, therefor, large watersheds are most heterogeneous. As the watershed size increases,
storage increases.

➢ Land use: defines the exploitation (natural and human interactions) characteristics of
watersheds which affect the various hydrological processes within the watershed.

2. How are watersheds classified by size? Define each category.

Based on size, the watersheds are divided into three classes: small watershed that there are smaller
than 250 Km2, Medium watershed that are between 250 to 2500 Km2, and large watershed that
there are larger than 2500 Km2.

➢ Small Watersheds: are those, where the overland flow and land phase are dominant.
Channel phase is relatively less conspicuous. The watershed is highly sensitive to high-
intensity and short duration rainfalls

➢ Medium Watersheds: the workability in these watersheds are easy due to accessible
approach. Rather than size, shape of the watershed plays a dominant role. Overland flow
and land phase are prominent.

➢ Large Watersheds: these watersheds are less sensitive to high intensity rainfalls of short
duration. The channel networks and channel phase are well-developed, and, thus, channel
storage is dominant.

3. How are watersheds classified by land use? Define in a few words each category.

The watershed classification based on the land use can be given as: agricultural, urban,
mountainous, forest, desert, coastal, marsh and mixed.

➢ Agricultural Watershed: is the watershed in which agricultural activities (crop cultivation)

is dominant. It experiences perhaps the most dynamically significant land-use change. This
usually leads to increased infiltration, increased erosion, and decreased runoff.

➢ Urban Watershed: These are the watershed areas having maximum manipulation for the
convenience of human being. These are dominated by buildings, roads, streets, pavements,

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 and parking lots. These features reduce the infiltrating land area and increase
imperviousness.

➢ Mountainous Watershed: Because of higher altitudes, such watersheds receive

considerable snowfall. Due to steep gradient and relatively less porous soil, infiltration is
less and surface runoff is dominantly high for a given rainfall event. The areas downstream
of the mountains are vulnerable to flooding. Due to snow melt, water yield is significant
even during spring and summer.

➢ Forest Watershed: These are the watersheds where natural forest cover dominates other
land uses. In these watersheds, interception is significant, and evapotranspiration is a
dominant component of the hydrologic cycle. The ground is usually littered with leaves,
stems, branches, wood, etc. Consequently, when it rains, the water is held by the trees and
the ground cover provided greater opportunity to infiltrate.

➢ Desert Watershed: There is little to virtually no vegetation in desert watersheds. The soil is
mostly sandy and little annual rainfall occurs. Stream development is minimal. Whenever
there is rainfall, most of it is absorbed by the porous soil, some of it evaporates, and the
remaining runs off only to be soaked in during its journey.

➢ Coastal Watershed: The watersheds in coastal areas may partly be urban and are in dynamic
contact with the sea. Their hydrology is considerably influenced by backwater from wave
and tidal action of the sea. Usually, these watersheds receive high rainfall, mostly of cyclonic
type, do not have channel control in flow, and are vulnerable to severe local flooding.

➢ Marsh or Wetland Watershed: Such lands are almost flat and are comprised of swamps,
marshes, water courses, etc. They have rich wildlife and plenty of vegetation. As water is no
limiting factor to satisfy evaporative demand, evaporation is dominant. Rainfall is normally
high and infiltration is minimal. Most of the rainfall becomes runoff.

➢ Mixed Watershed: These are the watersheds, where multiple land use cover exists either
because of natural settings or due to a combination of natural and human interaction
activities. In these watersheds, a combination of two or more of the previous classifications
occurs and none of the single characteristics dominate the area.

4. Define 4 watershed characteristics and how to estimate them.

The principal watershed characteristics are: basin area, basin slope, basin shape, and basin length.

➢ Basin Area: The area of watershed is also known as the drainage area and it is the most
important watershed characteristic for hydrologic analysis. It reflects the volume of water
that can be generated from a rainfall. Once the watershed has been delineated, its area can
be determined by approximate map methods, planimeter or GIS. Horton inferred that mean

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 drainage areas of progressively higher orders might form a geometric sequence. This
characteristic was formulated as a law of drainage areas.
𝒘−𝟏
𝑨𝒘 = 𝑨𝟏 𝑹𝒂 𝒘−𝟏 or 𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝑨𝒘 = 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝑨𝟏 +(𝒘 − 𝟏) 𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝑹𝒂
𝑨𝟏
𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝑨𝒘 = 𝒍𝒐𝒈 ( ) + 𝒘 𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝑹𝒂 = 𝒂 + 𝒃𝒘
𝑹𝒂
where Aw = mean area of basins of order w, A1 = mean area of first-order basins, Ra = Stream
𝑨𝒘
Area Ratio and normally varies from 3 to 6. → 𝑹𝒂 = 𝑨
𝒘−𝟏

➢ Basin Length: Length can be defined in more than one way

1. The greatest straight-line

distance between any two
points on the perimeter

2. The greatest distance

between the outlet and any
point on the perimeter

3. The length of the main

stream from its source
(projected to the perimeter) to
the outlet

Conceptually the basin length is the distance traveled by the surface drainage and
sometimes more appropriately labeled as hydrologic length. This length is generally used in
computing a time parameter, which is a measure of the travel time of water through a
watershed. The watershed length is therefore measured along the principal flow path from
the watershed outlet to the basin boundary.

Basin length, Lb, is the longest dimension of a basin parallel to its principal drainage channel
and Basin width can be measured in a direction approximately perpendicular to the length
measurement. The relation between mainstream length and drainage-basin area for small
watershed is given below; where Lb is in km and A in km2. → 𝑳𝒃 = 𝟏. 𝟑𝟏𝟐 𝑨𝟎.𝟓𝟔𝟖

➢ Basin Slope: Watershed/basin slope affects the momentum of runoff. It reflects the rate of
change of elevation with respect to distance along the principal flow path. It is usually
calculated as the elevation difference between the endpoints of the main flow path divided
by the length.

Basin slope has a profound effect on the velocity of overland flow, watershed erosion
potential, and local wind systems. Basin slope S is defined as 𝑺 = 𝒉/𝑳 where h = fall in
meters, and L = horizontal distance (length) over which the fall occurs.

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 ➢ Basin Shape: is not usually used directly in hydrologic design methods; however,
parameters that reflect basin shape are used occasionally and have a conceptual basis.
Watersheds have an infinite variety of shapes, and the shape supposedly reflects the way
that runoff will "bunch up" at the outlet. A circular watershed would result in runoff from
various parts of the watershed reaching the outlet at the same time. An elliptical watershed
having the outlet at one end of the major axis and having the same area as the circular
watershed would cause the runoff to be spread out over time, thus producing a smaller
flood peak than that of the circular watershed.

5. Define 5 basin shape parameters and how to estimate them.

A number of watershed parameters have been developed to reflect basin shape. Form factor, shape
factor, circularity ratio, elongation ratio, and compactness coefficient are the typical parameters;
important in defining the shape of a watershed/basin; and are discussed as below.
➢
Form Factor: The area of the basin divided by the square of axial length of the basin; where
value < 1 → 𝑨/𝑳𝟐

➢ Shape Factor: The drainage area divided by the square of the main channel length; where
value > 1 → 𝑳𝟐 /𝑨

➢ Circularity Ratio: The ratio of basin area to the area of a circle having the same perimeter
as the basin; where value £ 1 → 𝟏𝟐. 𝟓𝟕 𝑨/𝑷𝒓 𝟐

➢ Elongation Ratio: The ratio of the diameter of a circle of the same area as the basin to
maximum basin length; where value £ 1 → 𝟏. 𝟏𝟐𝟖 𝑨𝟎.𝟓 /𝑳

➢ Compaction Coefficient: The perimeter of the basin divided by circumference of equivalent

circular area; where value £ 1 → 𝟎. 𝟐𝟖𝟐𝟏 𝑷𝒓 /𝑨𝟎.𝟓

6. Define 5 channel characteristics and how to estimate them.

The basin geomorphology plays an important role in the transition of water from the overland
region to channels (streams) and also from the channel of one order to the other. It is easily
determined by contour map and drainage map of the basin. Channel order, channel length, channel
slope, channel profile, and drainage density are the most common channel characteristics,
important in estimating the watershed hydrological processes and are discussed as below.

➢ Channel Order: The first-order streams are defined as those channels that have no
tributaries. The junction of two first-order channels forms a second-order channel. A third-
order channel is formed by the junction of two second-order channels. Thus, a stream of

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 any order has two or more tributaries of the previous lower order. This scheme of stream
ordering is referred to as the Horton-Strahler ordering scheme

𝑵𝒘 = 𝑹𝒃 𝑾−𝒘 Or 𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝑵𝒘 = 𝑾 𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝑹𝒃 − 𝒘 𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝑹𝒃 = 𝒂 − 𝒃

𝒂 = 𝑾 𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝑹𝒃 𝒃 = 𝒘 𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝑹𝒃
where Nw = number of streams of order w; W = order of the watershed; and Rb = Bifurcation
Ratio varies between 3 and 5. This law is an expression of topological phenomenon, and is
a measure of drainage efficiency.

Bifurcation ratio is defined as the ratio between the number of streams of a particular order
to the number of streams of one higher order. → 𝑹𝒃 = 𝑵𝒘 /𝑵𝒘+𝟏

➢ Channel Length: This refers to the length of channels of each order. The average length of
channels of each higher order increases as a geometric sequence. Thus, the first-order
channels are the shortest of all the channels and the length increases geometrically as the
order increases. This relation is called Horton's law of channel lengths and can be
formulated as:
𝑳𝒘
𝑳𝒘 = 𝑳𝟏 𝑹𝑳 𝒘−𝟏 → 𝑳𝒘 =
𝑵𝒘

where Lw = total length of all channels of order w; Nw = number of channels of order w; Lw

= mean channel length of order w; L1 = mean length of the first-order streams; RI., = Stream-
Length Ratio generally varies between 1.5 and 3.5. → 𝑹𝑳 = 𝑳𝒘 /𝑳𝒘+𝟏

➢ Channel Slope: The channel slope is determined as the elevation difference between the
endpoints of the main channel divided by the channel length.

➢ Channel Profile: It includes the point of origin of the stream called the head, the point of
termination called the mouth, and a decreasing gradient of the stream channel towards the
mouth.

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➢ Drainage Density: Drainage density (Dd) is the measure of closeness of drainage spacing. It
is the indication of drainage efficiency of overland flow and the length of overland f l ow as
well as the index of relative proportions. It is defined as the length of drainage per unit area.
This term was first introduced by Horton (1932) and is expressed as

𝑫𝒅 = 𝑳/𝑨 or

Where L = Total length of all channels of all orders, A = Area; W = Basin order; Nw = No. of
basin of different order.

Horton (1945) recommended using one-half the reciprocal of the drainage density to
determine the average length of overland flow (L0) for the entire drainage basin.

𝑳𝟎 = 𝟏/(𝟐𝑫𝒅 )
Where Dd basically describes the average distance between streams and L0 approximates
the average length of overland flow from the divides of the stream channels.

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