Recognition of Effective Physical Characteristics of Watershed on Bed Sediment Morphometry (Case Study: Vaz River)

This research was conducted for recognizing affective watershed physical characteristics on morphometric parameters of bed sediment aggregated during recent floods in Vaz River located in Mazandaran Province, Iran. To achieve the study purposes, 7 cross sections were selected along the river where the bed sediments were sampled using combining technique. Then the morphometric characteristics of bed sediments were determined through applying sieving method and with the help of GRADISTAT software package. The entire data were analyzed by cluster and principle component analyses using SPSS12 software. The affective watershed physical characteristics on bed sediment morphometry were ultimately recognized using collected data and standardized correlation coefficient (β) in better performed multiple regression equations. The results of the study revealed that the area of upstream watershed and distance from upstream were most affective watershed physical characteristics on bed sediment morphometric variables.