Integration of elements of temporary and perennial watercourses within a water catchment area
An approach to the elaboration of an integral scheme of formalization of the elements of a cascade system of integrated temporary and perennial watercourses is discussed. It is based on the concept of conventional orders of watercourses which describe correlation between the size of watercourse, the area of its catchment and the average maximum of water discharge from the area under current climatic and morphographic conditions. Unlike the already elaborated schemes of structural formalization of watercourses the suggested approach doesn't require denotation of an elementary watercourse. Thus the scheme could cover the whole system of temporary and perennial watercourses within a water catchment area by assigning conventional orders to indefinitely small watercourses. The strength of the concept is illustrated by its application for a number of water catchment areas within the central regions of the European part of Russia.