Abstract
Ten basins in Indiana were selected to investigate their fractal properties. The box-counting procedure was used to measure the fractal dimensions of main stream length for the study basins. Two theoretical procedures based on Horton's ratios of drainage networks were used to compute fractal dimensions of the main stream lengths of the basins. The computed fractal dimensions were found comparable to the measured fractal dimensions. The first procedure which used Horton ratios of stream number and length provides a fractal dimension estimate which is closer to the measured values compared to that provided by the second procedure. Based on its fractal nature, three different methods were used to estimate main stream lengths. Average error in estimating main stream length was higher than 20%. The method which relates the main stream length to the mean link length and basin magnitude was modified to be applicable to basins with more than one major channel. The use of the modified procedure reduces the average error of estimating main stream lengths of the study basins from more than 40% to about 10%. Copyright 2014 Saudi Society for Geosciences