Distinctiveness and diversity of arid zone river systems - Arid Zone Geomorphology - page 266

Figure 12.3 Summary of the diversity in hydrology (inputs, throughputs, outputs) and drainage network and channel charac-
teristics within drylands, as expressed in terms of a linear flow occupancy scale (from Knighton and Nanson, 1997, and Nanson,
Tooth and Knighton, 2002). Along exogenous rivers or rivers in dry subhumid regions, flow occupancy may be 100 % and the
characteristics of these dryland rivers may be more akin to their counterparts in humid regions.

dominantly larger, lower gradient, essentially tectonically
inactive catchments (Figure 12.2(c) and (d)).

here loosely to also include adjacent parts of southern
Europe, north Africa and the Middle East. Large parts
of the region are drylands, with the regional climate be-
ing characterised by hot, dry summers and cooler, wet-
ter winters, but rainfall decreases from west to east and
from north to south so the degree of aridity varies corre-
spondingly from subhumid through to hyper-arid. Much
of the region is dominated by high relief catchments with

12.3.1 Higher energy dryland rivers: the
Mediterranean region