The Catchement

BITS
Pilani
Pilani Campus
THE CATCHMENT
INTRODUCTION
The catchment (also known as the drainage basin or the river basin) is defined
as the area drained by a stream or a system of connecting streams such that all
the surface runoff originating in this area leaves the area in a concentrated flow
through a single outlet. Quantitative assessment of hydrological parameters like
precipitation, evaporation, infltration and runoff, and their use in water balance
studies or in the problems of design and forecasting will be rational only when
they are applied to an area with well defined boundaries. Though the
preipitation, evaporation and infilration take place everywhere on the land
surface, the resulting runoff passes through but one point on the stream.
Therefore, it is only reasonable to take this area such that all the runoff
generated from it flows only through the point at its outlet. The line which
divides the surface runoff between two adjacent river basins is called the
topographic water divide, or the watershed divide, or simply the divide.
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BITS Pilani, Pilani
Fig.1 Topographic map showing locaion of a divide.
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BITS Pilani, Pilani
Fig.2 (a) Topographic divide
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BITS Pilani, Pilani
Sometimes, owing to the underlying geology, the runoff measured at the
outlet of a particular basin may contain some contribution belonging to
the precipitation fallen on a neighbouring basin by way of subsurface
runoff as shown in Fig.2 (a). Then the watershed leakage is said to occur.
Watershed leakage also occurs when the groundwater divide also known
as phreatic divide and the topographic divide are not coincident in plan as
shown in Fig.2 (b). The subsurface runoff or groundwater runoff
generated by the rain falling between the topographic divide and the
groundwater divide of Fig.2 (a) or Fig.2 (b) will flow into the stream of
catchment B, though it actually belongs to catchment A. In general, if the
two streams flow more or less parallel, leakage is likely to occur from
higher basin to lower basin.
Rain
Fig.2 (b) Groundwater Divide

STREAM PATTERNS
The combined effects of climate and
geology on the catchment topography yield
an erosion pattern which is characterised
by a network of channels or streams. Some
of the most frequently observed stream
patterns are shown in fig..
• When a region is homogeneous offering no variation in the resistance to the
flow of water, the resulting streams run in all directions with no definite
preference to any one particular direction. Then the stream pattern developed is
called dendritic or tree-like.
• The trellis drainage pattern develops when the underlying rock is strongly folded
or sharply dipping. The longer streams will have preference to one particular
orientation and the other tributaries will have an orientation at right angles to
this.
• The streams which form in the weaker strata of a dome mountain indicate
approximately circular or annular pattern. The annular pattern may be treated as
a special form of the trellis pattern.
• A region consisting of many rectangular joints and faults may produce a
rectangular drainage pattern with streams meeting at right angles.
• In a pinnate stream pattern, all the main streams run in one direction with the
tributaries (resembling dendritic pattern) joining them at an oblique angle.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BASIN
The basin characteristics such as the area, land-surface topography and other
morphological properties vary only with respect to geological time and thus may be
reated as constant.
• Area: The area of the drainage basin is defined as the area of the closed curve
which is obtained by projecting the catchment boundary on to a horizontal
plane. When the basin area is less than 25 km², it is expressed in hectares. The
conversion to be used is 1km² = 100 hectares.
• Stream Order: The stream order is a classification reflecting the degree of
branching or bifurcation of the stream channels within a basin. Assuming that
one has a channel network map of the basin, the smallest fingertip tributaries
are given the order 1. When two channels of order 1 join, a channel segment of
order 2 is formed. When two channels of order 2 join, a channel segment of
order 3 is formed and so on and so forth. This ordering of streams is shown in
Fig.3. Thus, the order of the main stream indicates the extent of branching in the
basin.
Fig.3 Ordering of streams.
• Drainage Density: It is delined as the ratio of the total length of streams of all
orders within the basin to the basin area.
...1
The drainage density may be throught of as a measure of the closeness of the
spacing of the stream channels. Low drainage density reflects poor drainage
conditions in the watershed.Low drainage densities are observed where soils
are resistant to erosion or very permeable and where the slopes are small.
Higher drainage densities are expected where soils are easily eroded or
relatively impermeable, slopes are steep and vegetal cover is scanty.
The average length of overland fiow o is taken to be half of the reciprocal of the
drainage density.
=
...2
• Stream Density: The Stream density Ds, also known as the stream frequency,
is obtained as the ratio of the number of streams Ns to the area of the basin.
...3
• Length: It is the length measured along the main-stream from the catchment
outlet to the remotest point on the catchment boundary. The main stream is
distinguished by starting at the outlet and following the stream of highest
order. When a bifurcation into two streams of equal order is reached, the
branch having the larger catchment is followed.
• Shape: The shape of the basin is quantitatively measured by various factors
such as the form factor, circularity ratio, elongation ratio and
compactness coefficient.
The form factor Rf is defined as the ratio of the basin area to the square of the
basin length.
...4
The circularity ratio Rc is defined as the ratio of the basin area to the area of the
circle whose perimeter is equal to the perimeter of the basin. Thus, if P is the
perimeter of the basin
...5
The elongation ratio Re is defined as the ratio of the diameter De of a circle whose
area is same as the area of the basin to the length of the basin.
...6
The compactness coefficient Cc is defined as the ratio of the perimeter of the
basin to the perimeter of a circle whose area is equal to the area of the basin.
...7
It may be observed that the circularity ratio is nothing but the reciprocal of the
square of the compactness coefficient.
...8
Thus the circularity ratio and the compactness coefficient are not truly
independent parameters.
• Relief: The maximum basin relief H is the elevation difference between the
basin outlet and the highest point on the basin perimeter usually expressed in
metres.
• Slope: The difference between the elevations of the highest point on the basin
perimeter and the basin outlet by the distance between these two points. The
slope of the stream can also be obtained from the stream profile. A graph
representing the horizontal distance along the mainstream versus the elevation
is known as the stream profile. The slope of the line ab in Fig.5 represents this.
A more realistic definition of the stream slope is given by the line cb, which is
drawn so as to have the same area under it as does the stream profile.
If the channel is
divided into n equal segments with slopes of s1, s2, s3......sn, the equivalent slope
of the channel is obtained from the equation
...9
Area-Length Relations: Data for a
number of the larger rivers all over the
world indicated the following relation
between area and length.
...10
where L is the main channel length in

km and A is the area of the basin in km².
Eq. 10 suggests that a basin tends to
elongate as it grows larger.
Fig.5 Stream Profile

CLASSIFICATION OF WATERSHEDS
• Based on area the watersheds are classified as small, medium and large. A
watershed is considered to be small if its area is less than 250 km2. A
medium watershed will have the drainage area between 250 km² and 2500
km². When area of the watershed exceeds 2500 km², it is considered to be
large. These limits should be considered as rough guidelines and may vary
from one geographical area to another.
• Depending on the land use the watershed may be referred to as urban,
agricultural,mountainous, forest, desert, coastal or marsh watershed or a
combination of two or more of them.The hydrological behaviour of these
watershed may be so distinctly different that they have given rise to
different branches of hydrology such as urban hydrology, forest hydrology,
desert hydrology etc.
CLASSIFICATION OF STREAMS
Based on the constancy of flow in the streams, they are classified into three
types namely perennial or continuous, intermittent and ephemeral.
• In a perennial stream, the flow is maintained by the ground water flow to

the stream (except during the periods of extreme drought). The bottom of
the channel is below the ground water table and as a result the
groundwater moves to the channel. A perennial stream gains discharge
from groundwater flow and it is therefore called a gaining stream.
• In an intermittent stream the channel bed is intermittently below and
above groundwater table. When the channel bed is below it gains
discharge from the groundwater flow and when the channel bed is above
it looses discharge to the groundwater and becomes dry. Therefore an
intermittent stream behaves alternatively as gaining stream and a loosing
stream.
• An ephemeral stream is one which flows only during runoff producing
storm events.The bed of an ephemeral stream is always above the
groundwater table. Because of this condition, water in the stream
infiltrates from the stream bed during the flow events and recharges
the groundwater below. An ephemeral stream looses water as it flows.
A large stream may change from ephemeral to perennial as it moves

toward the basin Outlet. Because of the fluctuations in the groundwater
table, the classifications of streams, it may be noted, is transitory.

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BITS

Fig.2 (b) Groundwater Divide

where L is the main channel length in

Fig.5 Stream Profile

• In a perennial stream, the flow is maintained by the ground water flow to

A large stream may change from ephemeral to perennial as it moves

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