Assessment and zoning of the geomorphological quality of Vardavard river in Tehran

Rivers are always vital arteries of the earth and naturally, they have a gradual and continuous development process which has undergone fundamental changes after the expansion of human settlements and urban development and they have lost some of their natural functions. Wardvard River is no exception to this. This river flows in the west of Tehran province and has been heavily affected by urban development which has undergone continuous changes in its flow path due to human interference and considering that this river flows in the access route of western cities of Tehran province, its natural and gradual evolution has been disrupted that this transformation, it has removed the river from its natural condition. In this research, the factors affecting the geomorphological quality of Wardvard River have been identified and using MQI index, it had evaluated the quality of river morphology. In this method, Wardvard River is divided into 9 study periods and the three main components of the quality of geomorphological performance, artificial structures and channel adjustment have been evaluated in the form of 28 indicators. Results show due to the urban development of Tehran and many artificial changes in the Wardvard river channel, intervals 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 have earned a score of 0.2 due to human interference and canalization of the river and it is very poorly placed on the floor.Intervals 2 and 5 have earned 0.3 points and it is placed in the weak class and intervals 8 and 9 have scored 0.6 due to the low human interference and the natural course of the river and it is placed in the middle class in terms of morphological quality.