The gradients along the course of 15 streams in the Dead Sea region, Israel, were compared to the apparent dip of rock strata in which the streams are cut (termed for brevity, "the structural gradient"). The statistical correlation between these gradients, measured from maps at 100-500 m horizontal intervals, was tested. In 12 streams a positive, significant correlation (at the 0.05 level) was found. The effect of lithology upon topographic gradients was analyzed in 13 streams, of which only six showed that gradients are dependent upon lithology. It is concluded that local small-scale changes of dip of beds or lithology may explain variations in the topographic profiles in 13 of the 15 streams studied, while no effect of change in their common base level was found.
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Ze’ev B. Begin (1975) studied this question.