Geomorphology of Badland in Golbaf Playa, SE Iran

Volume 4 - Issue 5

Somayeh Zahabnazouri*

Received: February 17, 2020;   Published: March 09, 2020

DOI: 10.32474/OAJESS.2020.04.000196

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Abstract

This paper deals with piping and badland geomorphology in the presently eroding playa of south Golbaf depression. The playa surface which displays badlands features slopes gently towards the north and is about 105 km in length and its average width is about 2km. Piping badland have progressively been evolved from the north towards the south. To study morphological variations, three sites were selected. In every site the diameters and depths of 61 depressions and their ratio.
If the studied playa is divided into almost five equal parts from south to north, the southernmost part (part1) is almost flat with negligible roughness. Towards the north, on the second part, the playa surface is very gently sloping with ~ 0.5 m relief and is eroded by some gullies up to ~2m. The third part which contains small funnel-shaped depressions shows a relief of ~1m on playa surfaces and is eroded by ~5m deeping gullies. The relief increases on the fourth part up to ~2m and gullies are up to 10m in depth. In the northernmost part, surface relief is about 5 m and gullies are up to 20m in depth. The calculated ratios of average depths to average diameters for sites A, B and C are 1.36, 1.45 and 1.78 respectively, indicating gradual increasing, as well as increasing relationship between diameter and depth of depression by increasing in their size from site A toward site C.

Keywords: Badland; Piping; Geomorphology; Golbaf

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