Fractal Analysis in Zarrineroud River Using Box-Counting Method

Fractal geometry has found many applications within the realm of sciences in recent decades. The use of fractal models in the study of geomorphologic phenomena expanded in recent years. The most important feature of the research on this phenomenon is the fractal dimension. In this study, fractal analysis was conducted for Zarineroud Basin located in northwest of Iran, using the box-counting method. to achieve this aim, according to Rodriguez-Iturbe and Rinaldo's method by using Satellite imagery and topographic maps in seven various scales (25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 meters), we count the covering cells by river, then river systems are extracted by using Arc GIS software and acquire the box-counting dimension. The fractal dimension obtained for the river (1.04) is close to the Euclidean value. That means that these fractal dimensions do indicate the meandering pattern complexity characteristic of this river. whereas a low fractal dimensions could indicate the existence of controlling processes on the evolution of the element studied.That means the network river is self-affine and its shape changes for difference's scale. Then the river geometry has not been published equally in all directions. In present landscape river network, branches with a low order, join the main branch directly.