Technical Note: ‎Study of Zarineh River morphology changes and its trend using GIS

Construction activities on the river branches and the middle areas of the watersheds can lead to changes on the river bed morphology of down streams. Understanding the river bed morphology changes and its effects on the lands next to river is essential to rehabilitate and stabilize the bed and banks. This study aim to identify the river bed morphology changes over the past five decades in Zarrinehrud River. In this research a range of 25 km at the end of Zarrinehrud River in West Azerbaijan province was studied using aerial photos of year 1334 and 1346, topographic maps of year 1375 and SPOT satellite image of year 1382. Results showed that morphological changes of the river bed and the surface area of adjacent lands were reduced from 561.1 ha to 221.3 ha. The sand dam area at river bed in 1346 was 13.8 ha and at 1382 was 2.7 ha, this result represents a large discharge fluctuations and changes in the hydrological and hydraulic conditions of the river. Meander form of River morphology also has been changed. Number of Meanders reduced from 4 to 3. The effective factors on the morphological changes were, changes in the hydrological regime due to dam construction, runoff reduction and sediment deposition in the river bed.