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<br />26 <br /> <br />exceptions are a very few channels that have some snowmelt- and/or <br /> <br />spring-derived flow. Two of the three upland channels, West Salt <br /> <br />..... <br />W <br />-.J <br />....:i <br /> <br />Creek and East Salt Creek, are intermittent and, at times, ephemeral <br /> <br />streams. They flow in the spring and early summer due to snowmelt <br /> <br />in their upland catchments, and they often 'flow in conjunction with <br /> <br />intense thunderstorms. The other upland channel, Big Salt Wash. <br /> <br />is at times a perennial stream when its flow, though very small, is <br /> <br />supplied by ground water sources in its upland reaches. <br /> <br />5.2.3 <br /> <br />Tributary-Basin Morphology <br /> <br />Examination of the tributary basins indicates great <br /> <br />variability in inter- and intrabasin characteristics. In all cases, <br /> <br />basin length is greater than basin width, but basin size, shape, and <br /> <br />relief vary widely. Table 5.1 shows that basin area ranges from <br /> <br /> <br />22,000 m2 for Basin Q to 340,000 m2 for Basin T. Relief varies from <br /> <br />15.2 m to 84.7 m for Basins Q and T, respectively. The lowest <br /> <br />relief ratio occurs for Basin S with a value of 0.052, while the <br /> <br />highest is for Basin U with 0.097. Finally, Basin P has the smallest <br /> <br />length:width ratio at 1.46, and Basin A has the largest at 5.45. <br />, <br /> <br />The only correlation found among the basin characteristics that <br /> <br /> <br />has an r2 value greater than 0.50 is between basin area and relief, <br /> <br />where: <br /> <br />Relief = 20.19 + 0.0001937 (Area) <br />r2 ='.829 <br /> <br />(5.1) <br /> <br />This linear relationship (Fig. 5.3) was expected, but it does not con- <br /> <br />tribute to an understanding of the geomorphic processes relevant to <br /> <br />the study. <br />