Quantitative method for the analysis and classification of a fluvial network

Abstract

In this study, with a quantitative method based on Strahler's classification, we find a system to establish category of importance on the different streams and courses of a drainage pattern. Once the various orders have been established, all the subbasins whose principal stream reaches at least order three are individualized, and when the number of courses of each one has been counted, limits are established which allow each course to be assignetd to each of the three categories established. This analysis has been carried out on the Noguera Pallaresa and Noguera Ribagorçana river basins at scale of 1/200,000 and a method of identification the subbasin developed, setting it in the whole of the drainage pattern. Finally, a more detailed study of the principal characteristics of a courses assigned to the first two categories with a comparative analysis between the two pyreneean basins, was made.