The structure of the Karay river basin by the longitudinal slopes of the river beds and the average gradients of water catchments slopes

Abstract

The problems of water lag time during flood forecasting, the rate of pollution spreading over the basin area in the event of industrial accidents, the transport of suspended and dissolved substances by rivers, and planning of erosion control measures are very relevant today. Within the framework of the basin approach, an elementary water catchment can be adopted as an elementary unit for the analysis of a particular territory. At the same time, river bed slopes determine the power of the water flow, and the average slopes of water catchments significantly affect the formation of river flow, the nature of the hydrological regime and determine the erosion potential of the territory. The object of the study is the basin of the Karay river, located in the southeastern part of the OkaDon plain. The Karay river is a right tributary of the Khoper river (the Don river basin). For the Karay river basin the river bed slopes and average gradients of catchment slopes are calculated and analyzed. The calculations were based on the digital elevation model created in GIS MapInfo. It is shown that the average slopes of the territories within the Karay river basin range from 0.4° to 1.4°.