180-9 Assessment of Morphometric evaluation to understand the distributional and erosional characteristics of the Madhupur Tract Drainage Basin, Bangladesh

Session: Geoscience Outreach Efforts to Broaden Participation (Posters)

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Abstract:

The systematic study of a basin encompasses numerous distributional and erosional characteristics, such as drainage patterns; drainage density; and drainage frequency, which are controlled by different factors. Drainage lines of an area explain the existing three-dimensional geometry of the region and help to describe its morphometric evolution process. In geomorphology, morphometry is dedicated to the quantification of morphology. The Madhupur Tract Drainage Basin comprises approximately 9,025 fluvial channels of varying stream orders, encompassing a total area of nearly 3,677 square kilometers.  Morphologically, the basin exhibits an elongated configuration, contributing to a high surface runoff rate and rapid hydrological discharge within a relatively short temporal scale. The basin is designated as a fifth-order basin, with a gradual decrease in the number of streams and increasing stream order. The drainage density of the basin is 0.55-2.06 km/km². The slope variation within the basin is mainly controlled by local geology and erosion cycles. The bifurcation ratio (Rb) is around 2.54, indicating a strong structural and geological control of the drainage pattern. The elongation ratio of the basin is calculated to be 4.68, indicating a significantly extended or elongated morphological form characterized by pronounced slope gradients. The progressive increase in the stream length ratio from lower to higher stream orders suggests that the basin has matured within the geomorphic evolutionary framework.

The entire drainage basin has been systematically delineated into 15 distinct sub-basins. A comprehensive morphometric analysis was conducted, involving the computation of over 30 parameters classified into four principal categories: drainage network characteristics, basin geometry, drainage texture, and relief attributes. Subsequently, these morphometric parameters were grouped using clustering techniques based on similarities in their quantitative properties. Correlation analyses were performed to elucidate the parameters' interrelationships and assess their collective influence on the hydro geomorphological dynamics of the basin.

A GIS platform was used to measure and analyze the topography and drainage characteristics of the six major sub-basins.

Keywords: Morphometry, Drainage Basin, Geomorphology, Hydrogeomorphology, and GIS Analysis

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

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