Estimating the Risk of Flood Occurrences on Meandering Rivers Case : Shor River (Located on the East Slope of Sahand Mt)

Abstract

Meanders are the most important of hydrologic landscapes which causes more important geo-morphological changes. These landscapes are considered as the signs of sudden hydrological and geo-morphological changes. In fact, the existences of meanders are considered as the most important signs of the flood occurrences in the related areas. Along Shor River, at the eastern slopes of Sahan and Jari Mountain, a great deal of curvatures have been formed in one of Gharangooy Chai sub basins, which with respect to the created curvatures, this meander is considered as the most typical one. In this paper, for the study of this phenomenon and also for studying the potential of the risk of flood occurrences along some parts of meander, LFH index has been used. For using this index, topographic maps, satellite images, aerial photos and field data have been used. The results obtained from the studies and used index shows that LHF value is different in the entire route; the average of LFH with the amount of 0.77 along Shor meander is high. In other words, based on this index, the risk of occurrence of large floods, particularly along some parts of the meandered route of this river is high. Also the studies indicate that after each flood and displacement of each meander curve and its moving to the sides, the lateral erosion along of Shor river is intensified and consequently its risks will increase.

Keywords

• meander
• flood hazard
• shor river
• east slope of sahand mt