River bifurcation
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River bifurcation is the separation of a stream into two parts. The creation of distributaries are the consequences of bifurcation.
[edit] Bifurcation ratio
One quantitative measure of a drainage basin is the bifurcation ratio. Robert E. Horton was the first to come up with this concept, when he created the "laws of drainage composition" and the "law of stream number." This law stated that there is a hierarchy of streams ranked by order. The first order streams are the individual streams starting from the water sources. First order streams merge to form second order streams, and second order streams form third order streams.
The ratio is calculated by dividing the number of first order streams by the number of second order streams, then dividing the second order streams by the next highest order, and so on. The average of all these ratios gives the bifurcation ratio.
If the bifurcation ratio is low, there is a higher chance of flooding, as the water will be concentrated in one channel rather than spread out, as a high bifurcation ratio would indicate. The bifurcation ratio can also show which parts of a drainage basin is more likely to flood, comparatively, by looking at the separate ratios. Most British rivers have a bifurcation ratio of between 3 and 5. [1]
One of the most famous bifurcations is the Casiquiare canal that links the Orinoco River with the Amazon.
[edit] References
- ^ Waugh, David. Geography, An Integrated Approach, 3rd ed. Nelson Thornes, 2002.
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