Lecture Topic: Drainage Pattern

Istiakur Rahman
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)
Islamic University of Technology (IUT)
 A drainage basin is the spatial geomorphic unit occupied by a river
system.
 A drainage basin is defined by ridges that form drainage divides,
i.e., the ridges are the dividing lines that control into which basin
precipitation drains
 Drainage pattern a pattern created by stream erosion over time
that reveals characteristics of the kind of rocks and geologic
structures in a landscape region drained by streams.
 Drainage pattern is the pattern formed by the streams, rivers, and
lakes in a particular drainage basin. They are governed by
the topography of the land, whether a particular region is
dominated by hard or soft rocks, and the gradient of the land.
 Drainage patterns or nets are classified on the basis of their form and texture.
Their shape or pattern develops in response to the local topography and
subsurface geology. Drainage channels develop where surface runoff is
enhanced and earth materials provide the least resistance to erosion. The
texture is governed by soil infiltration, and the volume of water available in a
given period of time to enter the surface. If the soil has only a moderate
infiltration capacity and a small amount of precipitation strikes the surface over
a given period of time, the water will likely soak in rather than evaporate away.
If a large amount of water strikes the surface then more water will evaporate,
soaks into the surface, or ponds on level ground. On sloping surfaces this excess
water will runoff. Fewer drainage channels will develop where the surface is
flat and the soil infiltration is high because the water will soak into the surface.
The fewer number of channels, the coarser will be the drainage pattern
 According to the configuration of the channels, drainage systems
can fall into one of several categories known as drainage
patterns. Drainage patterns depend the topography and geology
of the land.
 Dendritic
 Rectangular
 Trellis
 Radial
 Annular
 Parallel
 Irregular
 Dendriticdrainage systems are the most common form of
drainage system. In a dendritic system, there are many
contributing streams (analogous to the twigs of a tree),
which are then joined together into the tributaries of the
main river (the branches and the trunk of the tree,
respectively). They develop where the river channel follows
the slope of the terrain. Dendritic systems form in V-shaped
valleys; as a result, the rock types must be imperviouss and
non-porous.
Location: Yemen
 A parallel drainage system is a pattern of rivers caused by steep slopes with
some relief. Because of the steep slopes, the streams are swift and straight,
with very few tributaries, and all flow in the same direction. This system forms
on uniformly sloping surfaces, for example, rivers flowing southeast from the
Aberdare Mountains in Kenya.
 Parallel drainage patterns form where there is a pronounced slope to the
surface. A parallel pattern also develops in regions of parallel, elongate
landforms like outcropping resistant rock bands. Tributary streams tend to
stretch out in a parallel-like fashion following the slope of the surface. A
parallel pattern sometimes indicates the presence of a major fault that cuts
across an area of steeply folded bedrock. All forms of transitions can occur
between parallel, dendritic, and trellis patterns.
 The geometry of a trellis drainage system is similar to that of
a common garden trellis used to grow vines. As the river
flows along a strike valley, smaller tributaries feed into it
from the steep slopes on the sides of mountains. These
tributaries enter the main river at approximately 90 degree
angle, causing a trellis-like appearance of the drainage
system. Trellis drainage is characteristic of folded mountains,
such as the Appalachian Mountains in North America and in
the north part of Trinidad.
Location: Canada
 Rectangular drainage develops on rocks that are of
approximately uniform resistance to erosion, but which have
two directions of joining at approximately right angles. The
joints are usually less resistant to erosion than the bulk rock
so erosion tends to preferentially open the joints and streams
eventually develop along the joints. The result is a stream
system in which streams consist mainly of straight line
segments with right angle bends and tributaries join larger
streams at right angles.
 In a radial drainage system, the streams radiate outwards
from a central high point. Volcanoes usually display excellent
radial drainage. Other geological features on which radial
drainage commonly develops are domes and laccoliths. On
these features the drainage may exhibit a combination of
radial patterns
 Thecentripetal drainage system is similar to the radial
drainage system, with the only exception that radial drainage
flows out versus centripetal drainage flows in.
A deranged drainage system is a drainage system in drainage
basins where there is no coherent pattern to the rivers and
lakes. It happens in areas where there has been much
geological disruption. The classic example is the Canadian
Shield. During the last ice age, the topsoil was scraped off,
leaving mostly bare rock. The melting of the glaciers left
land with many irregularities of elevation, and a great deal
of water to collect in the low points, explaining the large
number of lakes which are found in Canada. The drainage
basins are young and are still sorting themselves out.
Eventually the system will stabilize.
In an annular drainage pattern streams follow a roughly
circular or concentric path along a belt of weak rock,
resembling in plan a ring like pattern. It is best displayed by
streams draining a maturely dissected structural dome or
basin where erosion has exposed rimming sedimentary strata
of greatly varying degrees of hardness, as in the Red Valley,
which nearly encircles the domal structure of the Black Hills
of South Dakota