Geomorphology 304 (2018) 30–39

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Geomorphology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph

Effects of an extreme flood on river morphology (case study: Karoon

River, Iran)
Saleh Yousefi a, Somayeh Mirzaee b, Saskia Keesstra c, Nicola Surian d, Hamid Reza Pourghasemi e,⁎,
Hamid Reza Zakizadeh f, Sahar Tabibian g
a
Faculty of Natural Resources and Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Emam Reza Street, Noor, P.O.Box: 46417-76489, Iran
b
Department of Watershed Management, Faculty of Natural Resources, Lorestan University, Khoramabad, Iran
c
Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, 6708PB Wageningen, Netherlands
d
Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, Via Gradenigo 6, 35131 Padova, Italy
e
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Engineering, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
f
Watershed Management at Islamic Azad University North Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran
g
Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Payame Noor University, PO BOX 19395-3697, Tehran, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: An extreme flood occurred on 14 April 2016 in the Karoon River, Iran. The occurred flood discharge was
Received 14 October 2017 the highest discharge recorded over the last 60 years in the Karoon River. Using the OLI Landsat images taken
Received in revised form 23 December 2017 on 8 April 2016 (before the flood) and 24 April 2016 (after the flood) the geomorphic effects were detected in
Accepted 23 December 2017
different land cover types within the 155-km-long study reach. The results show that the flood significantly
Available online 28 December 2017
affected the channel width and the main effect was high mobilization of channel sediments and severe bank
Keywords:
erosion in the meandering reaches. According to field surveys, the flood occupied the channel corridor and
Remote sensing even the floodplain parts. However, the channel pattern was not significantly altered, although the results
Fluvial geomorphology show that the average channel width increased from 192 to 256 m. Statistical results indicate a significant change
Channel widening for active channel width and sinuosity index at 99% confidence level for both indexes. The flood-induced
Bank erosion morphological changes varied significantly for different land cover types along the Karoon River. Specifically,
Floodplain management the channel has widened less in residential areas than in other land cover types because of the occurrence of
bank protection structures. However, the value of bank retreat in residential and protected sides of the Karoon
River is more than what we expected during the study of extreme flood.
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Remarkable morphological changes of river channels over short
time scales can be because of human interventions (e.g., dams, sediment
mining, and land use change) or natural events (e.g. large floods, volcanic
eruptions) (Kondolf et al. 2007; Hooke 2016a; Righini et al. 2017; Yousefi
et al. 2017a, 2017b, 2017c). Definitions and classifications are varied for
different types of floods, including catastrophic, flash, extreme, river,
coastal, pluvial, and large floods (Dong et al. 2007; Hooke 2015,
2016a). Flash floods rise and fall rapidly, usually within a few hours
(Borga et al. 2008). This kind of flood is characterized by high velocity
and power, within channels and over the floodplains (Borga et al.
2008; Hooke 2016a). Hand et al. (2004) reported that most hydrological
extreme events that occurred during the last decades have been
accompanied by flash floods. Short time and intensive rainfall events
are the main causes of flash floods. In an extreme rainfall event different
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: hr.pourghasemi@shirazu.ac.ir (H.R. Pourghasemi).
types of floods (including catastrophic, extreme, large, and flash floods)
could occur in a watershed. So the type of flood depends on watershed
metric characteristics, rainfall characteristics (duration, intensity, and
depth), and human activities (urban area, hydrological/hydraulic
contorting activities, etc.) in watershed and floodplain areas. Millennia
of human disturbances in watershed areas have changed flood charac-
teristics and river channel morphology (Phillips 2002; Cenderelli and
Wohl 2003; Alayande and Ogunwamba 2010; Hooke 2016a; Yousefi
et al. 2017b). The increase in soil erosion because of agriculture (tillage,
herbicides, etc.) and land use changes resulted in floods with higher
frequencies and intensities (Clark and Wilcock 2000; Keesstra et al.
2005; Gordon and Meentemeyer 2006; Lorenz and Feld 2013; Janeau
et al. 2014). Extreme rainfall events and related floods have an important
role on geomorphological evolution of fluvial systems (Borga et al. 2007;
Dong et al. 2016; Hall et al. 2014; Poole 2002; Sanjuán et al. 2016).
Hydrological events in a floodplain, such as flash floods and extreme
floods, can result in life and landscape changes on fluvial systems
(Barredo 2007; Hooke 2016a). As the power and the kinetic energy of
extreme floods is very high, the role of extreme floods in erosion and

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.12.034
0169-555X/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 S. Yousefi et al. / Geomorphology 304 (2018) 30–39
deposition processes of fluvial landscape evolution is very important,
especially in large river systems where the concentrations of human
population and activities are high (Alayande and Ogunwamba 2010;
Hazarika et al. 2016; Maantay and Maroko 2009; Van De Wiel et al.
2011; Yousefi et al. 2017a).
Many studies have contributed to our understanding of the relation-
ship between hydrology and fluvial geomorphology (Dean and Schmidt
2013; Fuller 2008; Hauer and Habersack 2009; Hooke 2016a, 2016b;
Hupp 2000; Milan 2012; Thompson and Croke 2013), but just a few
studies have investigated the definitive effects of extreme floods on
channel morphology (Hooke 2016a). Phillips (2002) indicated that
flash flooding impacts on channel geomorphology in a forested
headwater basin caused channel change. He concentrated on flood
events with more than a 200-year recurrence interval. Beechie et al.
(2006) investigated channel pattern and river-floodplain dynamics in
a forested watershed. They found that spatial mobility of straight
channels is lower than the meandering channels. Dean and Schmidt
(2013) investigated the geomorphic response of a large flood of
the Rio Grande (USA); they explained that a flood between 13-and
15-year recurrence interval had a significant effect on channel widening
and reached a widening of 26% to 52%. In addition, the results of
Fig. 1. Geographical location of the study area in Khozestan Province and Iran.
31
their study show many other styles of geomorphic changes, including
meander migration, bar building, floodplain scour, avulsions, and
vegetation striping; and they mentioned to an extensive deposition on
the floodplain.
Semiarid environments commonly undergo more flash floods than
other environments (Alexandrov et al. 2007; Farquharson et al., 1992;
Osterkamp and Friedman 2000). Hooke (2016b) investigated morpho-
logical impacts of flow events of varying magnitude on ephemeral
channels in a semiarid region. The results showed that low flows can
move sediment load without significantly changing channel morpholo-
gy. In another study, Hooke (2016a) considered geomorphological
impacts of an extreme flood in SE Spain and showed that major effects
of an extreme flood in a braided reach resulted in aggradation with
massive deposition of flat bars. This confirms the theory that in semi-
arid regions large events move sediment to the channel networks as
was also mentioned by Masselink et al. (2017); while smaller floods
move sediment out of the channel network over time.
Semiarid conditions are widespread in Iran; therefore notable ef-
fects of floods may be expected. In this way, the present study has
three main objectives: (i) to quantity morphological changes of the
Karoon River in response to an extreme flood; (ii) to assess the role
32 S. Yousefi et al. / Geomorphology 304 (2018) 30–39

of land cover types on channel changes and, specifically, on bank re-

treat during an extreme flood; and (iii) to investigate the role of ar-
tificial works (i.e., bank protection) on bank erosion in a large river
during an extreme flood.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Study area

The Karoon River basin is located in the southwest of Iran. The area
of the Karoon basin is about 67,500 km2, and the whole length of the
Karoon River is about 950 km. The upland of the Karoon River comprises
the Zagros Mountain, which has an elevation of 4548 m asl; at the outlet
the river flows into the Arvanrood River in Khoramshahr City (elevation
12 m asl) (Salarijazi 2012; Yousefi et al. 2016). The Karoon basin has a
large range of elevations and it is mainly located in a semiarid climate
(Nourani and Mano 2007; Salarijazi 2012; Yousefi et al. 2016). In
the last four decades, many large dams were constructed for energy
production, flood control, drinking water, and irrigation purposes on
the Karoon River (Nourani and Mano 2007; Salarijazi 2012;
Woodbridge et al. 2016; Yousefi et al. 2016).
The Karoon River is one of the most important sources of agriculture
activities (farming and orchards) in Iran (Woodbridge et al. 2016;
Yousefi et al. 2016). As a consequence, the floodplain of this river is Fig. 3. Distribution of reference data sets for image classification.

Fig. 2. (A) The hydrograph of flood in the Karoon River on 14 April 2016; (B, C, D, E) view of the flood in Karoon River on 14 April 2016 in different parts of the study reach.
 S. Yousefi et al. / Geomorphology 304 (2018) 30–39 33

Table 1 2.2. Hydrology

Training samples characteristics for image classification.

Land cover types Training Sample Mean annual precipitation in the southeast of the Karoon watershed
Number of training samples Classification Evaluation
is about 315 and 1376 mm/yr in the northwest parts of the watershed
(Alahbakhshian Farsani et al. 2013).
Riparian cover 66 46 20
The rainfall stations in the Karoon Basin recorded an average of
Agriculture 289 202 87
Residential 158 111 47 123 mm from 12 to 14 April 2016 in the upper watershed. In most of
Water body 184 129 55 the stations, the recorded rainfall during this event was the maximum
Sedimentation area 97 68 29 rainfall ever recorded. The maximum recorded rainfall during those
three days was 392 mm for Keshvar Station that is located upstream
of Dez Dam (48°5′46.3″ E, 32°27′8.4″ N).
highly populated and under flood risk (Nourani and Mano 2007; Mean annual discharge at Ahvaz gauging station (48°39′20″ E,
Salarijazi 2012; Tahmasbinejad et al. 2012). The basin has a population 31°18′27″ N) during the period 1972–2014 was 504 m3 s−1, while
of ~ 3.5 million people (Yousefi et al. 2016). Yousefi et al. (2016) maximum annual discharge was 2756 m3 s− 1 (Yousefi et al. 2016).
stated that the floodplain of the Karoon River has been dramatically The recorded suspended sediment load is 10 g/l (Yousefi et al. 2016).
disconnected by human activities such as irrigation canals and mining The peak discharge of the flood in April 2016 was 4800 m3 s− 1
sites. (Fig. 2), which was the highest discharge recorded over the last
The study area is a 155-km-long alluvial reach of the Karoon River 60 years. According to Log-Pearson type III, the 100 and 50-year
(Fig. 1). It includes the city of Ahvaz (1,112,021 inhabitants), which is recurrence interval discharge at the Ahwaz station are 2342 and
one of the largest cities in Iran. Its upstream part is located near the 2090 m3 s−1, respectively (Salarijazi 2012; Yousefi et al. 2016).
city of Band-e-Qir, which is the confluence point of the Karoon
River and the Dez River. The downstream part of the study reach is 2.3. Methods
located in the lower Khozestan Plain. A 1-km buffer area was defined
along the study reach to assess geomorphic changes and land cover In the present study, the OLI (Operational Land Imager) Landsat
types. images taken on 8 April 2016 (before flood) and 24 April 2016 (after

Fig. 4. Land cover map before the flood (8 April 2016).

34 S. Yousefi et al. / Geomorphology 304 (2018) 30–39

flood) were used. The OLI images were classified by the support vector
machine (SVM) in five classes (Srivastava et al. 2012; Yousefi et al.
2015a), using ENVI 4.8. The values of the γ parameter in the kernel func-
tion and the penalty parameter were 0.167 and 100 respectively
(Yousefi et al. 2015b). In addition, reflective bands of the OLI images
were used for classification processes. Using Google Earth images and
GPS (global positioning system) in the field surveys, 794 reference
data were applied for image classification (556 training sets) and
accuracy assessment (238 validation sets) (Fig. 3). Simple random
sampling was used to divide the reference data sets into training and
validation sets (Filipovych and Davatzikos 2011; Srivastava et al.
2012; Yousefi et al. 2015a). Table 1 shows the reference data set
for image classification. The land cover classes were riparian cover,
residential, water body, agriculture, and sedimentation area.
The active channel before and after the April 2016 flood was extract-
ed from land cover maps. Using Fluvial Corridor 10.1, active channel
width was determined in 10-m intervals, and changes were detected
along the study reach of the Karoon River (Roux et al. 2015; Yousefi
et al. 2015b, 2017c). The study reach was divided into 23 meander
loops based on Khozestan Regional Water Authority visual interpreta-
tion. Number and area of island bars were determined by visual
digitizing in the active channel for both dates (before and after the
flood). The following channel features and indices were calculated
(Grenfell et al. 2014; Hooke 2013; Yousefi et al. 2016; Zhang et al.
2015): sinuosity (C) (Eq. (1)), straight meander length (L), centerline
flow length (S), bank retreat, river network change index (RNCI)
(Eq. (2)), erosion area (EA), sedimentation area (DA), and the study
time period (T).

ðC ¼ S=LÞ ð1Þ

P P 
EA− DA
RNCI ¼ =T ð2Þ
L

Paired sample t-tests and one-way ANOVA tests were used to statis-
tically analyze and compare the data sets. In addition, the Duncan's
grouping test was used to identify the difference among land cover
types in active channel change (Bihamta and ZareChahouki 2010;
Pfanzagl and Hamböker 1994; Yousefi et al. 2016).

3. Results

3.1. Land cover

Fig. 5. Land cover occupation of the left and right sides of active channel.
The land cover map before the flood (8 April 2016) was produced
using the SVM algorithm (Fig. 4). Results showed that the total accuracy
3.2. Morphological analysis
and k coefficients are 91.5% and 0.88 respectively (Table 2).
Results of the land cover map show that the area of agriculture,
Active channel layers were extracted for before (8 April 2016) and
riparian cover, residential, sedimentation, and water bodies are
after the flood (24 April 2016) (Fig. 7), and morphological features
18,609.6, 953.3, 6718.3, 848.4, and 2797 ha, respectively before the
flood event. In addition, land cover types along active channel sides
were detected (Fig. 5). Results show that active channel sides were
almost completely comprised of agriculture and residential lands
(Fig. 6).

Table 2
Accuracy measures of image classification.

Agriculture Riparian Sedimentation Water Residential

cover area

User accuracy (%) 89.69 90.57 76.24 100 95.42

Fig. 6. Frequency of land cover types in active channel sides/Occupation of active channel
Produce accuracy (%) 91.58 72.73 81.05 100 96.05
sides by different land cover types.
 S. Yousefi et al. / Geomorphology 304 (2018) 30–39 35

Fig. 7. Active channel before and after the flood.

were calculated for both dates for the whole study reach of the Karoon
River (Table 3). Results of morphological changes show that, on average,
active channel width increased about 73 m after the flood event. In
addition, the number and area of island bars decreased 5 and 51 ha
respectively.
Also, morphological characteristics in meander loops were calculat-
ed and are given in Table 4. Results show that maximum widening
occurred in meanders 19, 8, and 10 by 130, 123, and 110 m respectively.
On the other hand, minimum widening was observed in meanders 12
and 18 by 36 and 40 m respectively. The average of RNCI was about
8 m, and the maximum and minimum values were identified in mean-
ders 8 and 12 respectively.
Change in the active channel width along the study reach of
the Karoon River was assessed. The statistical analyses (paired samples
t-test) show a significant difference between active channel width
before and after flood at 99% confidence level (Table 5). Maximum
widening of the active channel is about 518 m and is located 55 km
from the upstream (meander number 8). Also, the difference in sinuos-
ity index between before and after flood event is a significant in the
study area at 99% confidence level (Table 5).
3.3. Relationship between channel changes and land cover types
The results show that about 1290 ha (4.3%) of the floodplain in the
study reach was affected by erosion processes (47%, 20%, 26%, and 7%
in agriculture, residential, riparian cover, and sedimentation area
respectively). Results of the One-way ANOVA test show significant dif-
ferences in active channel widening for different land cover types on
the left and right sides of the river with a 99% confidence level for
both sides of the study reach in the Karoon River (Table 6). Maximum
bank retreat by the study flood in agriculture, riparian cover, residential,
and sedimentation area is 367, 421, 95, and 538 m respectively.

Table 3
Morphological characteristis for whole of the study reach before and after flood.

Date Average width Active channel area Number of Islands area Flow length Sinuosity Erosion area Sedimentation area
(d.m.y) (m) (ha) islands (ha) (km) (ha) (ha)

08.04.2016 192 3092 43 181 162.98 1.88 1292 9.3

24.04.2016 265 4374 38 130 161.55 1.84
36 S. Yousefi et al. / Geomorphology 304 (2018) 30–39

Table 4
Morphological characteristics in meander scale.

Meander number 8 April 2016 (pre-flood) 24 April 2016 (post-flood) Flood

L (km) S (km) Sinuosity Width (m) Area (ha) Sinuosity Width (m) Area (ha) Erosion area (ha) Deposition area (ha) RNCI (M/Event)

1 17.69 20.89 1.18 177.06 369.31 1.16 239.39 504.39 136.09 1.01 6.47
2 1.96 3.66 1.86 207.68 73.27 1.92 264.55 95.81 22.67 0.13 6.17
3 1.41 5.10 3.62 158.15 78.88 3.61 243.21 125.40 46.86 0.34 9.12
4 3.49 8.02 2.30 205.14 158.49 2.34 254.62 200.72 42.70 0.47 5.27
5 3.14 8.89 2.83 256.29 231.56 2.84 304.71 278.66 48.25 1.16 5.30
6 3.18 6.55 2.06 196.89 126.76 2.07 264.67 175.55 49.48 0.69 7.45
7 3.37 8.59 2.55 208.14 174.68 2.62 299.04 257.21 83.17 0.65 9.61
8 3.63 6.20 1.71 220.51 136.46 1.74 343.19 225.60 89.53 0.39 14.38
9 8.43 10.95 1.30 266.53 307.10 1.32 328.99 383.88 77.33 0.55 7.01
10 3.96 10.55 2.66 236.47 255.86 2.73 346.41 397.86 142.66 0.66 13.46
11 3.86 8.92 2.31 178.28 160.51 2.36 251.13 227.20 67.05 0.36 7.47
12 1.57 5.59 3.56 169.03 91.63 3.59 205.42 112.83 21.69 0.49 3.79
13 2.37 6.03 2.55 212.52 126.82 2.58 273.02 169.72 43.01 0.11 7.11
14 0.99 3.77 3.81 156.40 58.59 3.85 243.40 96.93 38.50 0.16 10.16
15 2.54 3.69 1.45 165.82 58.71 1.51 252.44 91.18 32.91 0.43 8.80
16 1.45 2.85 1.96 180.57 49.63 1.95 231.06 65.21 15.79 0.21 5.48
17 2.04 2.71 1.33 149.15 38.28 1.35 201.92 53.69 15.41 0.00 5.68
18 2.36 4.11 1.74 162.20 62.99 1.74 202.62 80.32 17.70 0.37 4.22
19 2.27 5.22 2.30 154.03 75.74 2.22 282.96 148.19 72.63 0.18 13.87
20 3.05 4.22 1.38 168.22 69.00 1.38 240.84 101.21 32.32 0.11 7.64
21 10.54 14.70 1.39 170.98 249.67 1.40 244.02 361.17 111.55 0.05 7.59
22 2.87 7.00 2.44 145.22 98.76 2.45 223.33 158.21 60.19 0.73 8.50
23 2.04 3.36 1.65 123.09 38.99 1.68 192.72 63.31 24.33 0.01 7.24
Mean 3.84 7.02 2.17 185.58 134.42 2.19 257.99 190.19 56.17 0.40 7.90
Min 0.99 2.71 1.18 123.09 38.28 1.16 192.72 53.69 15.41 0.00 3.79
Max 17.69 20.89 3.81 266.53 369.31 3.85 346.41 504.39 142.66 1.16 14.38
SD 3.72 4.26 0.76 36.26 91.76 0.77 43.40 123.40 36.74 0.31 2.87

In addition, results of the Duncan's grouping test show that values of
active channel widening in the sedimentation area is greater than the
other land cover types for both sides of the study reach of the Karoon
River (Fig. 8).
4. Discussion
4.1. Morphological changes
Extreme floods play an important role in the evolution of fluvial geo-
morphology of a river (Hooke 2016b). Results of the present study show
that the high discharge in the study area increased channel width 39%
on average. By increasing the flow power, extensive bank erosion took

The recorded flood on 14 April 2016 of the Karoon River was about
two times more than the 100-year recurrence interval flood. According
to the flood classification of Dong et al. (2007), the April 2016 event is an
extreme flood. Assessment of the pre-and post-flood conditions of the
river and its floodplain showed significant changes for different land
cover types along the study area. The land cover assessment showed
that agriculture and residential areas cover most parts of the Karoon
River floodplain; and N 71% of the Karoon River banks were used for
agriculture or residential areas, whereas 29% is occupied by natural
covers.

Table 5
Results of paired sample t-test for the morphological parameters between two dates.

Morphological Average difference Standard T-value Degree of Significant

parameter between variables deviation freedom

Width −73.002 75.12 −121.53 15,643 0.000

Sinuosity −0.204 0.033 −2.91 22 0.008

Table 6
NOVA test results of width change in different land cover types.

Independent variable Left side Right side

F Significant F Significant
Fig. 8. Duncan's grouping of width change in different land cover types for left (A) and
Width change 13.06 0.000 11.32 0.000
right (B) sides of the study reach.
 S. Yousefi et al. / Geomorphology 304 (2018) 30–39
place (1290 ha) and active channel width increased as a result of that.
The present results are in agreement with Hauer and Habersack
(2009) who reported that an extreme flood in Austria also significantly
widened the channel.
The survey after the flood showed that the number and area of island
bars in the Karoon River decreased because of the extreme flood. The
large flood increased the sediment transport capacity of the river
(Cenderelli and Wohl 2003; Hooke 2013); and therefore next to the
observed bank erosion, the channel itself was also scoured of sediment
and existing island bars were eroded. The new river channel has taken
the shortest route and decreased the sinuosity index where channel
widening was more distinct.
The minimum change in active channel width was observed in me-
ander number 5 with an increase of about 18%, and the maximum
change in channel widening occurred in meander number 19 with an
increase of about 83%. The channel corridor in meander number 5 is
surrounded by protection walls that reduced bank erosion. As a conse-
quence of this, sinuosity changes in meander bend 5 is also low, about
0.01 (0.3%); while sinuosity index for meander number 19 is reduced
0.08 (−3.4%). The riparian area in meander number 19 was occupied
by flood during the study events and no protection activities of any
kind are in this area. Surian and Rinaldi (2003) stated that channel
narrowing and reduction in sinuosity index are the consequences of
channelization activities in Italian rivers. However, the new wide chan-
nel is now too big for the current discharge and the new river course has
more space to move around in. Therefore, the sinuosity index of the ac-
tual channel of the river has increased significantly after the flood
because the river is flowing in an over-fit channel bed. Similar over-fit
channels and terrace formation have been observed in other rivers
(Keesstra et al. 2005; Righini et al. 2017; Scorpio et al. 2017).
4.2. Role of land cover types on bank retreat
Fig. 8 shows that the relationship between land cover types and ac-
tive channel width changes are similar for both sides of the river in the
study reach of the Karoon River. In addition, the lowest channel widen-
ing occurred in places where the land cover type is residential and the
Fig. 9. Land cover types in meanders with highest (19, 8, and 10) and lowest (12 and 18) widening.
37
largest channel widening is related to old sedimentation and river
banks without bank protection structures and areas dominated by ri-
parian vegetation. As illustrated in Fig. 9, the meander numbers 19, 8,
and 10 (highest value of widening) show the highest channel dynamics
and are found in areas with a natural cover. In highly unusual events like
the flood in April 2016, natural banks like old deposition areas and ripar-
ian areas are more vulnerable than residential areas for bank erosion
processes because of the erodibility of the banks (Hauer and
Habersack 2009; Hooke 1984; Yousefi et al. 2017a, 2017c). However,
the natural areas protected by riparian vegetation were less eroded
then the unprotected sedimentary areas (Keesstra et al. 2012). Riparian
vegetation has been described in many studies as an effective and cheap
way to stabilize banks during flood events (Camporeale and Ridolfi
2010; Gordon and Meentemeyer 2006; Yousefi et al. 2017a, 2017c);
however, in extreme events the vegetation proves to be unable to pro-
tect the river banks sufficiently. In managed areas (agriculture and res-
idential), channel widening was much less, which is attributed to river
management structures that were present in the channel. On average,
the value of bank retreat in residential areas that are protected by arti-
ficial works in the study reach of the Karoon River is about 69 m; how-
ever, this value of bank erosion in protected sides is more than what we
can image, and we almost never expect bank erosion in artificially
protected sides (Overeem et al., 2013; Surian and Rinaldi 2003). This
study declared that protection walls in the study reach of the Karoon
River do not have enough stability against extreme events. Yousefi
et al. (2017b) in a study in north of Iran found that the urbanization
growth has a narrowing effect on the active channel of a braided
reach. The least bank retreat was found in residential areas in this
study, which is in agreement with Leopold (1973), O'Driscoll et al.
(2009), and Kong et al. (2010) who showed the same effects in other
parts of the world.
According to the high concentration of population and importance of
land in urban areas, the urban managers and decision makers try to
reduce the risk of flooding and associated sediment movement by
mechanical river protection activities (e.g. dykes and protection
works). Bank erosion and channel scouring can damage bridges, road
and houses built close to the river. Residential lands, especially in
38 S. Yousefi et al. / Geomorphology 304 (2018) 30–39
Fig. 10. Flood in an urban area (A) and riparian area (B) of the Karoon River.
urban areas, were protected by walls in the Karoon River (Figs. 9 and
10) which have proven to have been an effective strategy as the lowest
movement of channel was observed in this part of the study reach
(meander numbers 12 and 18) (Woodbridge et al. 2016; Yousefi et al.
2016).
Understanding the impact of these kinds of extreme floods is needed
in light of climate change predictions. Most of the climate change
scenarios show that the frequency of extreme floods will increase in
semiarid areas such as Iran (Abbaspour et al. 2010; Amiri and
Eslamian 2010; Ashraf Vaghefi 2010). Therefore, a better understanding
of the morphological changes in fluvial systems caused by extreme
floods is very important for river management and, specifically, for the
mitigation of flood risks.
5. Conclusion
An extreme flood occurred on 14 April 2016 in the Karoon River that
altered the morphology of the river and its floodplain. The OLI Landsat
images taken on 8 April 2016 (before flood) and 24 April 2016 (after
flood) were used to assess channel morphology affected by this flood
event in a meandering reach representative for the downstream part
of the Karoon River. The recurrence interval of the flood was estimated
to be more than a 100-year in the Ahvaz station at the outlet of the river
and has been classified as an extreme flood. Our findings show that the
event significantly affected channel width, bank conditions, channel
bars, and sinuosity. The main effect was a high mobilization of channel
sediments and severe bank erosion in several reaches. According to
field surveys, the flood occupied the channel corridor and even parts
of the floodplain; however, the channel pattern was not markedly
changed. Findings show that the channel morphological changes
(channel widening) varied significantly in relation to different land
cover types along the Karoon River. Specifically, the channel has wid-
ened less in the residential areas than the other land cover types,
which is the result of bank protection activities. Further research on
the rate of change and monitoring and evaluation in the other rivers
in different geomorphological forms worldwide should be done to bet-
ter understand effects of hydrological events in river geomorphology.
The role of human activities in river corridors in different hydrological
conditions also should be done in future studies.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr. Herve Piegay (Research Director
at the National Center for Scientific Research) for his ideas and support
in this study. In addition, the authors would like to give special thanks to
the journal reviewers for their constructive and useful comments
during the review process. Also, we would like to extreme grateful
Prof. Dr. Richard A. Marston (Editor Geomorphology) for revising of this
manuscript and adding positive comments. The authors dedicate this
study to those who have suffered by the natural hazards in the world,
especially to the victims of the powerful recent earthquake (13 November
2017) on the Iran-Iraq border (Kurdistan).
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