DIGITAL ELEVATION MODEL ANALYSIS OF STREAM PROFILES OF THE NORTHEASTERN COAST OF OMAN: IMPLICATIONS FOR LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION

In this study, we used topographic analysis of (wadis channels) to evaluate the geomorphic response to rock uplift in the Northeastern coast of Oman by using normalized channel steepness index (ksn) and emergent marine terraces. Our study focus on the incised wadis at the Tertiary basin where the wadis have steep gradients and suggest high ksn values on streams profiles and where the erosion rates are also expected to be high result from the migration of knickzones.  

Digital elevation models are used to quantify differences in landscape morphology associated with along-strike northeast to southwest changes in tectonic. Analysis of lon- gitudinal profiles supports the hypothesis that the study-area channels are in equilibrium with current uplift and climatic conditions, and reveals that the rock uplift in the northern sector is lower compared to the other type of basins where wadis have high ksn values and contain several knickpoints along their profiles.The distribution of low ksn values ( ksn = <107.5 ± errors) at the headwaters and high ( ksn = 169-265 ± errors)close to the outlet of the wadis located on the basin suggest that in this basin the rock uplift and erosion were more or less compensated. In this region the landscape seems to have reached the steady-state, and is currently experiencing the propagation of knickpoints due to the increase in the rate of rock uplift in the coast during the Holocene.