Identification of geomorphic signatures of active tectonics in the Wadi Hagul Basin, Northwest Gulf of Suez, Egypt: insights from SRTM derived geomorphic indices and watershed analysis

Abstract

The satellite data, include Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+), Landsat-8 (OLI), Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), were processed and interpreted for creating an integrated geospatial map of the geomorphic indices (GI) of Wadi Hagul Basin (WHB). The present study is considered new, useful, and valuable in northwest of Gulf of Suez region to evaluate active tectonics using SRTM resulting drainage network and GI. Where fairly slight studies on active tectonics recognized on GI were prepared in the investigated area. The GI includes; Ratio of valley floor width to valley height (Vf), Transverse topographic symmetry factor (T), Stream length-gradient index (SL), Drainage basin shape (Bs), hypsometric integral (Hi), geomorphological landform and watershed analysis. Also, GI were integrated and combined with the seismic and structural lineaments intensities maps to create an integrated single index map. The morphotectonic geo-spatial distribution hazards map reveals that the high risky area is 82.75% of the total area, the moderate-risk area is 16.51%, and the low risky morph-tectonic area is 0.81%. Based on this map, it is necessary for planners and decision makers to extremely study attractive applicable action concerning the recommended mitigation measurements from this study to avoid any serious future problems in WHB and its surroundings areas.