| Abstract: | The peakedness of a basin and its variation with drainage area were analyzed for three areas. Peakedness of a basin is calculated as mean flow as a percentage of highest flow. A fitted power curve relating ‘Peakedness index’ (PI) to drainage area for each of the three areas indicates a break point in a basin of about 300 km2. This break point divides the basins into small basins which are more peaky and large basins which are less peaky. The break point is an outcome of a difference in order of magnitude between channel flow velocity from the headwater sources and hillside flow velocity. When the basin responds to hillslope flow the runoff from the head water sources has already flown about 30 km downstream. |
