Link between Flow Regime and the Catchment Hypsometry: Analysis of South Australian Basins

Abstract

AbstractThe quantitative analysis of the hypsometric integral (HI) and other statistical moments (e.g., kurtosis and skewness) of hypsometric curves conducted using a total of 195 main catchments and 223 subcatchments from South Australia reveal that most of the study catchments are at either a young or mature stage of landscape development, which indicates that they are at a high risk of future erosion if disturbed by anthropogenic activities. Results of this study indicated significant correlations among hypsometric attributes, confirming the relationships proposed by previous studies between landscape features and hypsometry. No significant correlation between hypsometric characteristics (e.g., HI and poly skew) and selected flow statistics [mean (μ), coefficient of variation (cv), lag-one auto correlation coefficient (r1), and Q50-Q10 range flow duration values] was found for South Australian catchments. Contrary to some of the previous study outcomes, no significant vertical or horizontal scale depen...