Study of Maroon river route changes using Linear Directional Mean method and its effect on riverside land-use in Behbahan district

There are many different methods for identifying meander changes and river landforms and prediction their movements. In this study, 55 km of Maroon river route changes in Behbahan district is studied in 16years time interval by using Landsat 7 ETM and Landsat 8 OLI satellite images for 1999 and 2015 respectively. In this study linear directional mean method is applied. This method represents general direction of vectors, that line and vectors are river routines in this study. River route is digitized and divided into four parts according to the geology of the study area, and then the linear directional mean of each part was calculated. All four parts showed changes in length and direction. Results show that river length was 54897 min 1999 and changed to 55532 min in 2015 and the movement of the mean center point of the river in the study area is about 180 m. Main changes in length are in 4th part about 88 m. A length change for the whole river in the study area is 635 m, which most of it occurred in 4th part. Land use of riverside in parts 1 and 2 have no changes, but the bare soil in parts 3 and 4 changed to rangelands and bushes in the study time interval.