Morphometric characterization of the Carrizal basin applied to the evaluation of flash floods hazard, San Juan, Argentina

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.05.011

Quaternary International

Volume 253, 6 March 2012, Pages 74-79

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.05.011 Get rights and content

Abstract

The Carrizal river basin is located to the northwest of San Juan Province in the Iglesia department. One of the main geological hazards that affect the Iglesia department is flash floods, produced by heavy seasonal rains, characterized by their high velocities and destructive power. The Carrizal river basin was selected as a test case to evaluate the potential magnitude of flash floods in relation to their associated hazard level. This paper evaluates some of the hydrological aspects of a torrential regime of Carrizal basin that can cause severe damage like the event that took place in the area during February 1944. Various morphometric characteristics of the Carrizal river basin were analysed in order to evaluate its flash ﬂood hazard. For this purpose, the basin was divided into five sub-basins, according to lithological aspects, and some basic measurements (surface, perimeter, basin length, river beds, elevations and slope of the main river bed, and of a number of minor river beds) were calculated. These measurements allowed predicting approximately the behaviour of the basin in the presence of a series of theoretical rainstorms that may generate unusual runoff volumes. The predicted flash floods were compared against the Carrizal flash flood.

Introduction

The morphometric characteristics of drainage basins provide a means of describing the hydrological behaviour of a basin. The estimation of the maximum theoretical discharges is of critical importance because they control the maximum flow velocities, their probable extent, their impact, and the possibility of building contention and/or mitigation works (Hungr, 2000).

The dry Andes and Preandes Mountains Ranges bordering the western boundary of South America are affected by various natural geologic processes. Flash floods are one of the most common types of geological hazards in the region, and they are localized process that occur in basins of a few hundred square kilometres or less (Borga et al., 2007), and on account of their unpredictable can cause problems to road networks in the highlands and mountain valleys.

According to NWS/NOAA (2010), a flash flood is a rapid and extreme flow of high water into a normally dry area, or a rapid water level rise in a stream or creek above a predetermined flood level, beginning within 6 h of the causative event (e.g., intense rainfall, dam failure, ice jam). However, the actual time threshold may vary in different parts. Ongoing flooding can intensify to flash flooding in cases where intense rainfall results in a rapid surge of rising flood waters. Flash floods become even worse when the inﬁltration index is reduced by previous rainstorms.

Because mountainous areas are not highly low populated or in most cases, un-inhabited, historical catastrophic flash floods in Argentina have not been widely documented. In the province of San Juan, the most recent events occurred in 2005 and 2010 (Perucca and Esper Angillieri, 2009, Perucca and Esper Angillieri, 2011).

On 13th February 1944, few weeks after an earthquake had destroyed San Juan city, a sudden and violent flash flood (estimated peak discharge 600 m³/s), devastated everything existing along its way. As a consequence, thirty-five people died, houses and most of the cattle and crops were devastated and buried under a mass of mud, rocks and branches (Esper Angillieri, 2007). There are no data about the volume of rainfall precipitated on that day or on previous days, and unfortunately there are neither newspaper records nor eyewitnesses.

In various articles, morphometric analyses were used for basin characterization Miller, 1953, Boulton, 1968, Gregory and Walling, 1973, Gardiner, 1975, Majumdar, 1982, Costa, 1987, Nag, 1998, Topaloglu, 2002, Moussa, 2003, Sreedevi et al., 2004, Srinivasa Vittala et al., 2004, Mesa, 2006, Esper Angillieri, 2008 and Perucca and Esper Angillieri (2011), among others. The Carrizal basin and its drainage features were studied through topographical maps, air photographs and satellite imagery in order to predict the approximate behaviour of the basin during heavy rainfall and to calculate the potential hazard of flash floods.

Section snippets

Study area

The Carrizal basin covers an area of 372.53 km² in the northeast of San Juan province, Argentina. This basin includes some important orographic systems as the Volcán hills, with tallest peaks as high as 4500 m asl. (Fig. 1).

The San Juan province has a general arid and semiarid climate; the total annual rainfall average is very small with about 93.3 mm per year. Winter temperatures are generally mild, ranging between 1.0 and 18.0 °C, whereas summers are hot and very dry, with temperatures

Materials and methods

In the present study, base maps showing drainage details, basin delineation and morphometric characterization have been prepared from 1:100 000 toposheets, 1:15 000 aerial photographs, and digital satellite imagery (Landsat 7-TM). They were geo-referenced to Geographical coordinate system (WGS84) using GIS software. The ordering of the digitalized streams of the basin was performed in GIS according to Strahler’s system, 1964.

Altitudes were obtained from topographic sheets with a 50-m contour

Results and discussion

The Carrizal basin is composed, from north to south, of three main creeks Volcán, Guachi and Carrizal (Fig. 1). The basic parameters and derived parameters are summarized in Table 1.

This 5th order drainage basin covers an area (A) of 372.53 km², has a perimeter (P) of 174.54 km, an axial length (L) of a bit over 43 km and a mean width (Wm) of 8647.64 m. The drainage patterns of the basin are subdendritic and parallel, and lower order streams mostly dominate the basin. The maximum elevation (H),

Conclusions

The computed morphometric characteristics show that lower order streams mostly dominate the basin. The river network is of ﬁfth order. The general pattern of the basin is subdendritic and parallel. It is an elongated basin with highly dissected areas, and the Dd of the basin indicates the predominance of unconsolidated modern deposits. The Melton ratio (MR) indicates a great susceptibility of the basin to the occurrence of stream flows.

The values obtained from the rain-discharge simulation

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by a grant from the CONICET (National Council of Scientific and Technological Research). The author would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for his valuable comments and suggestions that improved the paper.

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Forum communicationMorphometric characterization of the Carrizal basin applied to the evaluation of flash floods hazard, San Juan, Argentina

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Study area

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

Journal of Hydrology

Quaternary International

Hydrometeorological analysis of the august 29, 2003 flash flood in the eastern Italian Alps

Journal of Hydrometeorology

Morphometric analysis of river basin characteristics

Journal of Hydrology

El aluvión del 13 de febrero de 1944 en la Quebrada del Carrizal, Departamento Iglesia, Provincia de San Juan

Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina

Morphometric analysis of Colangüil river basin and flash flood hazard, San Juan, Argentina

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Drainage Basin Form and Process: A Geomorphological Approach

Sediment sources and drainage basin characteristics in Upper Cheyenne river basin

United States Geological Survey

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American Geophysics Union Transactions

Erosional development of streams and their drainage basins. Hydrophysical approach to quantitative morphology

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Analysis of debris flow surges using the theory of uniformly progressive flow

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Morphometric analyses of the 4th order drainage watersheds of the Khowai river basin, Tripura, India. Some preliminary results and observations

Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing

An Analysis of the Relation Among Elements of Climate, Surface Properties and Geomorphology. Office of Naval Research

Morphometric analysis of a subtropical Andean basin (Tucumán, Argentina)

Environmental Geology

Forum communication
Morphometric characterization of the Carrizal basin applied to the evaluation of flash floods hazard, San Juan, Argentina