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A simple and relatively rapid method of determining the characteristic or typical slope of a basin is proposed. The expression for the parameter which is given by S avg = L ( H su − H so2 )/( A cos β) was developed from considerations of basin geometry and basic geomorphologic facts and involves only quantities that can be easily extracted from topographic maps. Characteristic basin slope values of 19 Appalachian Plateau watersheds which range in size from 7.4 to 178.2 km 2 were determined by the proposed method. These values were compared with corresponding values obtained by Horton's intersection line method and with those derived from county soil survey reports and maps. The comparisons showed very close agreement between the three sets of values indicating the high accuracy of the method developed here. Similar comparisons involving values determined by previous slope methods indicated that these values are at best poorly related to actual average basin slope, and that most of them are incapable of detecting small differences in slope between similar watersheds. Moreover, the proposed method significantly reduces the amount of work required by other slope methods of comparable accuracy.
Zecharias et al. (Sun,) studied this question.