Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109 – 137

www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph

Along-strike variations of morphotectonic features in the Western

Foothills of Taiwan: tectonic implications based on stream-gradient
and hypsometric analysis
Yen-Chieh Chen a, Quocheng Sung b,*, Kuang-Yu Cheng b
a
Department of Earth Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, Ta-Hsueh Road, Tainan 701, Taiwan, ROC
b
Department of Geography, National Kaohsiung Normal University, No. 116, Ho-Ping 1st Road, Kaohsiung 802, Taiwan, ROC
Received 12 August 2002; received in revised form 10 January 2003; accepted 13 January 2003

Abstract

The Taiwan mountain belt provides a key example for analyzing the relation between morphology and tectonics in an active
compressional environment. There is a striking geometrical relationship between the location of salients and reentrants of the
mountain belt and the presence of major crustal inhomogeneities such as structural highs in the foreland basin. Major along-
strike variations of structural styles occur in range-front rock units of the fold-thrust belt. Stream-gradient and hypsometric
analysis has been carried out to highlight the along-strike variations of morphotectonic features and to illustrate the relative
activities in different tectonic regimes of the Western Foothills.
The normalized stream length-gradient index (SL index) and the Hack profile are two of the stream-gradient indices that
effectively reflect the tectonic uplift in a region. De-trending and residual analysis of the hypsometric integral (HI) eliminates
the spatial dependency of small drainage basins, and the residual hypsometric integral corresponds to differential uplift activity.
Integration of stream-gradient indices and hypsometry provides more robust tectonic interpretation.
Five morphotectonic provinces have been identified in the Western Foothills based on stream-gradient indices and
hypsometry. Each province is bounded by a series of N140jE-trending transfer fault zones, either inherited from the Eurasian
passive margin and/or newly formed in the sedimentary cover in response to the presence of basement highs within the foreland
basin (the Peikang and Kuanyin highs). The morphotectonic features as well as deformation styles vary within each province. A
high uplift but low shortening rate typifies the crustal deformation style in the transpressional regime north of the Peikang
Basement High. On the contrary, a low uplift but high shortening rate characterizes the crustal deformation style in the
transtensional regime south of the Peikang Basement High. The higher geomorphic indices suggest that greater tectonic activity
occurs in central than in southwestern Taiwan. This inference is also supported by the coseismic deformation of the 1999 Chi-
Chi earthquake.
D 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Stream-gradient indices; Hypsometric integral; Morphotectonics; Chi-Chi earthquake

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +886-7-7172930x2720; fax:
+886-7-7250865.
E-mail addresses: l4887104@ccmail.ncku.edu.tw
(Y.-C. Chen), sungqc@nknucc.nknu.edu.tw (Q. Sung).
1. Introduction
Taiwan is a highly uplifted orogenic belt with a
high level of seismicity. It has been forming since the

0169-555X/$ - see front matter D 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0169-555X(03)00059-X
110 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
late Miocene as a result of arc-continent collision
between the Eurasian plate and the Philippine sea-
plate (Ho, 1988; Teng, 1987, 1990). It can be divided
into several geologic terrains: from east to west, they
are the Coastal Range, the Central Range, the Western
Foothills and the Coastal Plain. The Western Foothills
consist of a series of subparallel thrust faults and
related folds that comprise the western part of an
extensive fold-and-thrust belt of thin-skinned defor-
mation (Suppe, 1981, 1983). Most of the active
deformation occurs along the mountain fronts in the
central and southwestern Foothills. In these districts,
most of the active folding and thrusting is associated
with east-dipping reverse faults, such as the Shueli-
keng, Shuangtung, Chelungpu, Changhwa, Chuko
and Chiochongkeng Faults. The Chelungpu and
Chuko Faults form the western boundary of the foot-
hills. They are overthrusts with a hanging wall of late
Miocene – Pliocene deformed strata riding upon a
footwall of late Quaternary and recent alluvium
(Chang, 1971; CPC, 1982a,b; Chang et al., 1996).
Over the past 100 years, this area has experienced
coseismic surface rupturing several times, e.g. in 1906
(ML = 7.1) and 1935 (ML = 7.1) (Cheng et al., 1999).
The largest inland earthquake (ML = 7.3) of the
20th century in Taiwan occurred at 01:47 local time
on September 21, 1999 near the small town of Chi-
Chi, in the central foothills. A fault scarp several
meters high occurred on or near the mapped trace of
the Chelungpu Fault and extended for more than 105
km (Fig. 1a). Maximum recorded PGA was greater
than 1 G (Central Geological Survey, 1999). Limited
surface ruptures were also found along the Shuang-
tung Fault. Coseismic deformation occurred within a
region where a 1990 – 1995 GPS survey shows low
velocities (Fig. 1b). GPS geodetic measurements
taken after the Chi-Chi earthquake show a striking
crustal deformation along the upthrown block of the
1999 rupture (CGS, 1999). In general, the vertical
displacement of this fault exhibits an average of 2 –3
m in the south and reaches a maximum slip of 7 –8 m
in the north (Ma et al., 1999). There is greater
horizontal and vertical slip in the northern block
between the Dachia River and the Wu River than in
the southern block between the Wu River and the
Chuoshue River (CGS, 1999) (Fig. 1a). This obser-
vation is consistent with the pattern of longer-term
crustal deformation inferred from stream-gradient
change in a period from 1904 to 1985 (Sung et al.,
2000). In such a complex framework of tectonic
setting and seismic history as Taiwan, we should as
well pay attention to the longer-term and larger-scale
deformation, which may not be reflected by the short-
term geodetic measurement.
Typically, tectonic deformation of the earth’s sur-
face takes place slowly over thousands of years or
longer. Although deformation is imperceptible to
human eyes, the most sensitive scientific instruments
often can measure it. River systems are the next most
sensitive tool, capable of adjusting to deformation
over periods of decades to centuries (Keller and
Pinter, 1996). Some geomorphic indices have been
developed as basic reconnaissance tools to identify
areas experiencing rapid tectonic deformation. The
most useful in studies of active tectonics are the
hypsometric integral, drainage basin asymmetry,
stream-gradient index, mountain front sinuosity and
ratio of valley floor width to valley height (Keller and
Pinter, 1996). The stream-gradient reflects the slope
change of a stream longitudinal profile, which may
reflect tectonic activities (Merritts and Vincent, 1989;
Rhea, 1989; Marple and Talwani, 1993; Brookfield,
1998). Hypsometry is the relative portion of an area at
different elevations within a river basin and may be
sensitive to various forcing factors such as tectonics,
lithology and climate (Lifton and Chase, 1992). A
study of a rapidly uplifting area in the Siwalik Hills,
Nepal, shows that hypsometric integral is significantly
correlated to the uplift rate (Hurtrez et al., 1999). The
hypsometric analysis of subbasins in the Western
Foothills of Taiwan also indicates a positive correla-
tion with a recently uplifting anticline (Chen, 1999).
The island of Taiwan, where collision and moun-
tain building occur, provides a key example for
analyzing the relation between morphology and tec-
tonics in an active compressional environment. It is
characterized with an elongated S-shape of the general
structural trend (Fig. 2). Previous studies have shown
that there is a striking geometrical relationship
between the location of salients and reentrants of the
mountain belt and the presence of major crustal
inhomogeneities such as structural highs in the fore-
land basin (Biq, 1990; Lu, 1994; Lu and Malavieille,
1994; Lu et al., 1995; Delcaillau et al., 1998; Hu et al.,
2001). Major along-strike variations of structural
styles occur in mountain-front rocks of the fold-thrust
 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
Fig. 1. Coseismic deformation of the Chi-Chi earthquake and the GPS station velocity field. (a) Coseismic deformation from the Chi-Chi earthquake, measured by the GPS stations
along the Chelungpu Fault (CGS, 1999). Solid lines are active faults, namely Shuelikeng Fault (F1), Shuangtung Fault (F2), Chelungpu Fault (F3) and Changhwa Fault (F4). Wiggly
line is the surface rupture of the Chi-Chi earthquake fault. The maximum horizontal and vertical slip is 8.5 and 3.4 m, respectively. (b) Velocity field with respect to the Penghu station
monitored by the GPS Network (Yu et al., 1997). Thin lines are active faults. Crustal deformation is indistinctive along the Chelungpu Fault (the heavy line). (A) Longitudinal Valley
Fault, (B) Chuko Fault.

111
112 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137 113

belt. A 2-D distinct element model constrained by
GPS velocity field data (Hu et al., 2001) indicates that
the presence of structural highs is consistent with the
crescent shape of the thrust wedge and the presence of
transpressional or transtensional structures in central
and southwestern Taiwan, respectively. In this paper,
we aim to study the relative tectonic activity of the
Western Foothills and Coastal Plains in central and
southwestern Taiwan by combining the results of the
stream-gradient and hypsometric analysis extracted
from topographic databases of 1985. We focus mainly
on the comparison of the geomorphic indices and
discuss their implications in the long-term crustal
deformation with respect to the short-term deforma-
tion illustrated by geodesy in these two regions. This
study also prompts a discussion of the along-strike
variations of morphotectonic features in the Western
Foothills from local effects such as frontal contraction
and lateral movement in response to indentation by
the basement highs.
2. Tectonic setting
2.1. Geological background
The Taiwan mountain belt developed in the last 5
Ma as a result of oblique collision of the Luzon island
arc with the Chinese continental margin. The active
Longitudinal Valley Fault separates two main geo-
logical provinces of Taiwan (Ho, 1986; Tsai, 1986).
To the east, the Coastal Range comprises mainly
volcanic and siliciclastic sequences of the accreted
Luzon arc-trench system, whereas the area to the west
consists of metamorphic and sedimentary sequences
of the deformed Chinese continental margin (Fig. 2).
The Central Range of Taiwan is characterized by
the presence of Tertiary metamorphic rocks, in con-
trast with the adjacent nonmetamorphic fold-and-
thrust belt of the Western Foothills (Ho, 1986). The
pre-Tertiary basement crops out on the eastern flank
of the Central Range. The axial ridges and the western
flank constitute the Slate Belt. In the Western Foot-
hills, the Neogene and Early Pleistocene shallow-
marine to shelf clastic sediments are affected by
WNW-vergent folds and low-angle thrust faults. The
Coastal Plain of western Taiwan and offshore areas
further to the west are underlain by mostly flat-lying
Cenozoic sedimentary sequences (Fig. 2). The Coastal
Plain is composed of Quaternary alluvial deposits
derived from the Central Range and the Western
Foothills.
The S-curved mountain belt is trending NE –SW in
the northern part, turns anticlockwise to NW – SE,
then N – S in the central, and resumes its NE – SW
trend again in southern Taiwan. Two major buried
basement highs in western Taiwan are revealed by
subsurface studies: the Peikang High to the south and
the Kuanyin High to the north. Drilling and seismic
reflection data outlined the semicircular shape of the
Peikang High, which is characterized by its tectonic
and geodetic stability, in contrast to the adjacent
mobile belt. The distribution of the Toukoshan For-
mation (the Pleistocene mollasse) and lateritic terraces
in western Taiwan marks the relative active belt along
the deformation front of the fold-and-thrust belt (Lu,
1994). The drainage pattern shows a fan structure and
the river system is retreating from the Peikang High
area. The presence of such a crustal high is likely to
play an important role in the development of the
frontal fold-and-thrust belt (Hung et al., 1999;
Lacombe et al., 1999; Hu et al., 2001).
2.2. Displacement field in Taiwan
The ‘‘Taiwan GPS Network’’ was established in
1989 by the Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia
Sinica, to study the present-day crustal deformation in
Taiwan area. The displacement vectors in Taiwan
relative to the Chinese margin increase toward the
south (Fig. 1b), consistent with the oblique collision
migrating from north to south. Major discontinuities
in the velocity field are observed across the Longi-
tudinal Valley in eastern Taiwan and across the Chuko

Fig. 2. Tectonic map of Taiwan and geologic background of the area studied. The central Foothills comprises the Daan (R1), Dachia (R2), Wu
(R3) and Chuoshue (R4) Rivers draining across the Shuelikeng (F1), Shuangtung (F2), Chelungpu (F3), Changhwa (F4) and Tungtzchiau (F5)
Faults. The Huwe (R5), Neocho (R6), Bazhang (R7), Chishue (R8) and Zhengwun (R9) Rivers run across the Chuko (F6), Chiochongkeng (F7),
Meishan (F8), Muchiliau (F9) and Liochia (F10) Faults in southwestern Foothills. Four tributaries of the Wu River are Butzu (r1), Tobianken
(r2), Tsaohu (r3) and Mauluo (r4). The black heavy bold line is the surface rupture of the Chi-Chi earthquake. LVF: Longitudinal Valley Fault.
114 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
Fault in southwestern Taiwan, where remarkable
strain accumulation rates are observed (Yu and Chen,
1994). A rather gradual counterclockwise change in
velocity trends is observed across the Taiwan belt
west of the Longitudinal Valley Fault, from north –
northwest in the eastern Central Range to west in the
Western Foothills.
In the western region of the network, most station
velocities in the Coastal Plain and western-central
Taiwan are negligible (insignificant or only margin-
ally significant). North of the Peikang High, the trends
of velocity gradually change clockwise from WNW –
ESE to N – S, and finally to E – W. To the southwest, in
the Kaohsiung coastal area, the velocity vectors are
even directed toward the southwest. This may be
explained by the escaping of this area to the weak
accretionary wedge offshore southwestern Taiwan, as
the indentation of basement highs increases and
oblique convergence goes on in eastern Taiwan (Hu
et al., 1997). This present-day velocity field is strongly
influenced by the presence of major zones of relative
weakness and mechanical decoupling inside the colli-
sion zone, such as the Longitudinal Valley Fault zone
and the western thrusts of the Foothills (Hu et al.,
2001).
3. Database: topographic maps and DEM
A drainage basin is defined as the set of cells
related by their flow pathway to the basin outlet. A
40-m resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM),
provided by the Bureau of Forestry in the 1980s, is
produced by photogrammetry and projected over a
Universal Transverse Mercator (zone 51) grid as a
Cartesian reference frame. The software ‘‘River-
Tools’’ is used to extract river network and basin
limits from DEMs. This software is based on standard
methods: a single flow drainage direction, following
the steepest downward slope, is calculated for each
cell of the grid. Sinks are filled to ensure the con-
tinuity of drainage. Giving a constant threshold con-
tributing area, the channel network and the drainage
basin limit are determined. This software can also
delimit the sub-drainage basins according to the
Strahler’s order.
In the area studied, there are nine major rivers and
four larger tributaries draining westward through the
central and southwestern Foothills into the Taiwan
Strait. The Daan, Dachia, Wu and Chuoshue Rivers
run across the Shuelikeng, Shuangtung, Chelungpu,
Changhwa and Tungtzchiau Faults in the central
Foothills. The Huwe, Neocho, Bazhang, Chishue
and Zhengwun Rivers run across the Chuko, Chio-
chongkeng and Muchiliau Faults in the southwestern
Foothills (Fig. 2). The analyzed profiles are the main
channels of the river networks with their river outlets
on the coast. Four tributaries of the Wu River, namely
the Butzu, Tobianken, Tsaohu and Mauluo, were also
analyzed to give a complete coverage of the Che-
lungpu Fault. Length data of river profiles were
collected from topographic maps of 1985 that are
geocoded in ‘‘MapInfo’’ GIS software, and elevation
data were taken at crossings of the stream courses and
contour lines. Therefore, we obtain a better horizontal
resolution at upper reach of the river profile than at
lower reach.
4. Methodology
4.1. Stream-gradient indices
The stream length-gradient index (SL index) has
been commonly used to highlight gradient change of a
stream longitudinal profile and is believed to reflect
stream power or competence (Hack, 1973). Usually, it
is very sensitive to changes in channel slope and is
applied to evaluate relationships between possible
tectonic activity, rock resistance and topography (Kel-
ler and Pinter, 1996). The parameters measured are
shown in Fig. 3 and the equation is shown below:
H ¼ c  kV logðLÞ ð1Þ
where H is altitude of the profile, c is a constant, and
kVis the SL index. The quantity L is the stream length
measured from the drainage divide at the source of the
longest stream in the drainage basin. The semilogar-
ithmic plot of the longitudinal profile is hereinafter
called the Hack profile.
Most natural streams do not have just a single
logarithmic profile throughout their length. Their
Hack profiles are ‘‘curved’’ and can be made up of
connected series of segments of various lengths.
Because the SL index is very sensitive to channel
 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
Fig. 3. Conceptual diagram of Hack profiles. (a) The longitudinal
profile of a graded river. (b) The semilogarithmic plot of a graded
river profile, the so-called Hack profile, is a straight line with a
slope kV, the SL index. (c) The uplifted longitudinal profile shows a
distinct knick point with a steeper lower reach and (d) its Hack
profile. (e) A curved Hack profile may be divided into four graded
segments (I, II, III and IV), each of which is linearly fitted and has
its own SL index to construct the step curve.
slope changes, in practice, the channel slope is aver-
aged over a segment of the reach step by step from
river source to river mouth to smooth out local varia-
tions. Each segment expresses a small graded reach
with an SL index value, and a step SL index curve is
constructed for the entire river. The segment boundary
is defined independently by use of linear fitting with
its correlation coefficient confined to be at least 0.98.
We also commonly draw a straight line between river
source and river mouth and consider it as the graded
situation of a natural stream in dynamic equilibrium
(Fig. 3e). The slope of this line is called the graded
gradient k and can be deemed as the proxy of stream
power for a river. Therefore, a large river has a greater
k and a small river has a smaller k. Brookfield (1998)
115
proposed an evolution concept of change in a graded
river profile by fault movement as shown in Fig. 4.
Successive profiles show a trend toward eventual new
equilibrium profile. As the displaced profile reestab-
lishes its new graded state, the asymptotic decay
curves clearly shows a trend varying from a convex
Hack profile to a convex – concave Hack profile. The
reaction time is assumed to be instantaneous, the
relaxation time to new dynamic equilibrium is
unknown, but is exponential and needs independent
time calibration.
A number of previous studies with respect to active
crustal warping have provided useful information
related to river profile adjustments (Volkov et al.,
1967; Burnett and Schumm, 1983; Ouchi, 1985;
Snow and Slingerland, 1990). Brookfield (1998)
showed a series of convex Hack profiles of great river
systems of southern Asia caused by tectonic processes
during the Cenozoic India –Asia collision. His con-
clusion is very similar to the cases in South Carolina
coastal plain. Marple and Talwani (1993) and Rhea
(1989) pointed out that river anomalies observed
within the South Carolina coastal plain expressed
convex-upward longitudinal profiles, and the features
should relate to an area of general uplift. Also, in the
Mendocino triple junction region, northern California,
Merritts and Vincent (1989) found that the Hack
profiles of rivers are convex in high uplift rate areas
and are almost straight and slightly concave in inter-
mediate and low uplift rate areas.
There exist different geological implications bet-
ween SL index and Hack profile (Hack, 1973; Brook-
field, 1998). Hack asserted that changes in SL index
values along streams in the Appalachians generally
correspond to lithological control, but studies in
southern Asia by Brookfield (1998) showed a differ-
ent result. He emphasizes that no evidence supports
lithological control on the development of large rivers
draining the Himalaya, and relatively sudden changes
of gradient are caused by tectonics or by river capture.
These differences point out an important scale effect
between SL index and Hack profile. To clarify this
argument, we carry out two test cases, which compare
the stepped curve of the SL index generated by linear
fitting, the curved Hack profile, main lithological
boundaries and geological structures to evaluate pos-
sible scale dependency. The first case is in the
Kwechuong River, a tributary of Chishue River,
116 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137

Fig. 4. Change in graded river profile by fault movement and the resulting adjustment. Graded river profile (A) is displaced to profile (B) by a
sudden fault displacement (here, 3 km analogous to Plio – Pleistocene uplift of Taiwan mountain belt). Erosion/deposition inflection point is kept
constant: in reality, it would migrate downwards and upstream, eroding earlier deposited sediment near the fault. Successive profile 1 – 5 show a
trend toward eventual new equilibrium profile (C). (Modified from Brookfield, 1998).

which runs through the Liochia Fault (F10 in Fig. 2).
The Kwechuong River has a low graded gradient of
18 with a length of about 33 km and a height of 185 m
at the source (Fig. 5). It flows across the lithological
boundaries from the shaly Kanshialiao Formation to
the sandy Erchungchi Formation and back to the
Kanshialiao Formation again. The SL index reflects
the lithological competence. The shaly formation is
less resistant to erosion than the sandy formation and
has a lower SL index. However, the Chiendapu
syncline and the Niushan anticline also exert some
minor effect on the SL index. Another case is the Wu
River (Fig. 6). The Wu River has a high graded
gradient of 60 with a length of about 92 km and a
height of 576 m at the source. It runs across different
lithostratigraphic units from Oligocene to Pleistocene.
The SL index should decrease downstream if it
reflects competence of rock units because the older
rock is more indurated. On the contrary, the SL index
increases downstream until it encounters the frontal
fault of the thrust system, the Changhwa Fault, and
the maximum value appears near the Chelungpu
Fault. Thus, the relative active thrust faults might be
the major factors that affect the segment gradients
along the Hack profile, and the uplift effect is
reflected in convexity of the large-scale Hack profile.
Note that the stepped SL index curve is segmented by
a much smaller distance in the Kwechuong River than
in the Wu River (Figs. 5 and 6). Local abnormalities
of the stream-gradient due to lithological variations
may be smoothed out in the case of Wu River. In other
words, the Kwechuong River is a small river in terms
of stream power (k = 18) and is incompetent to remove
the lithological effect on the stream-gradient, while
the large one, the Wu River (k = 60), is capable of
removing the lithological and structural effect on the
stream-gradient.
Summarizing the two examples analyzed above,
we accept that SL indices generated by linear fitting of
Hack profiles might reflect small- to medium-scale
geological features, such as lithology, folds and faults;
the entire curved Hack profile possibly corresponds to
the cumulative effect of larger-scale tectonic activities.
As illustrated in Fig. 3c, the curvature of the Hack
profile results from the total net accumulation of all
internal and external process of a river from the past to
the present. If a river runs through a high tectonic
activity area as an active fault zone, its Hack profile
 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137 117

Fig. 5. Step curve of SL index and curved Hack profile of Kwechuong River, a tributary of Chishue River. Dashed lines are main lithological
boundaries of the Pleistocene sequences. The profile starts at 100 m from the riverhead. Distance in kilometers for each segment is shown on the
step.

will remain convex and the convexity will correspond
to movement of the active structure. Furthermore,
changes in the convexity of Hack profiles over time
could also be used as the potential indicator of large-
scale tectonic activity (Sung et al., 2000).
4.2. Hypsometry
Hypsometry is the relative portion of area at differ-
ent elevations within a region (Strahler, 1952). The
hypsometric curve represents the relative proportion

Fig. 6. Step curve of SL index and curved Hack profile of Wu River. Dashed lines are main lithostratigraphic boundaries from Oligocene to
Quaternary. The profile starts at 5 km from the riverhead. Distance in kilometers for each segment is shown on the step.
118 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
of basin area below (or above) a given height. The
hypsometric integral represents the area under the
hypsometric curve. The hypsometric integral (HI)
can be estimated by
HI ¼ ðHmean  Hmin Þ=ðHmax  Hmin Þ ð2Þ
where Hmean and (Hmax  Hmin) are the mean eleva-
tion and the elevation drop of the basin, respectively
(Pike and Wilson, 1971). Hypsometry has been gen-
erally used to infer the stage of geomorphic develop-
ment from the shape of hypsometric curve (Strahler,
1952). Many studies (e.g. Ohmori, 1993; Willgoose,
1994) have shown different implications of the hyp-
sometric curve from those proposed by Strahler
(1952). For example, Masek et al. (1994) have pro-
posed a climatological effect on the hypsometry by
comparing two large-scale drainage basins in the
central Andean plateau. In a study of the San Gabriel
Mountains, California, Lifton and Chase (1992) sug-
gested the influence of tectonic activity on the hyp-
sometric integral at large scales (1000 km2) and a
stronger influence of lithology at small scales (100
km2). They also tested the influence of varying uplift
rates on hypsometry, from a numerical model of
landscape development, showing that the hypsometric
integral was positively correlated to uplift rate. This
result contrasts with the negative correlation found in
the natural landscape. In a comparative study of
basins sampled in the same tectonic context along
the southern border of the French Massif-Central, the
lithology is shown to be the dominant control on the
hypsometric curve. However, hypsometric integral,
independent of drainage area, is significantly corre-
lated to the uplift rate in the Siwalik Hills, Nepal,
where there are rapid tectonic uplift rates (Hurtrez et
al., 1999). This review shows that hypsometry could
be sensitive to various forcing factors, which are
scale-dependent, such as tectonics, lithology and cli-
mate.
Study of the scale dependency of hypsometry
indicates that hypsometry is robust against varying
DEM resolution. This property suggests that com-
parisons of hypsometry can be reliably performed
even if calculated from DEMs of different resolution
(Rosenblatt and Pinet, 1994; Hurtrez et al., 1999).
The scale dependence of hypsometry may reflect the
varying importance of river and hillslope processes
with the basin area (Hurtrez et al., 1999). Small
drainage basins would be dominated by hillslope
processes and hence have convex hypsometric curves
and hypsometric integrals close to 1. Conversely,
the importance of river processes would increase
with increasing drainage area and the hypsometric
curve would become concave with hypsometric
integrals approaching 0. Where variations of drain-
age area are important, the drainage area may exert
a stronger influence on hypsometry than the uplift
rate.
Scale dependence of hypsometry becomes an im-
portant issue when the hypsometric analysis is applied
to smaller subbasins in a catchment. Basin area and
perhaps subbasin location in the catchment are influ-
encing factors on the hypsometric measurement. The
Sandieh River and the Chishue River were selected to
test the scale dependence of hypsometry on the drain-
age area. They both originate near the Chuko Fault
and run through low hills of the Pleistocene sediments
and into the Coastal Plain of southwestern Taiwan.
4.2.1. Area dependence of hypsometry
Giving a constant threshold for the contributing
area, a series of subbasins are delineated within the
catchments. Data cells in each subbasin are then
extracted from the DEM to calculate the hypsometric
integral by both Eq. (2) and the basin area. The
average area, the average elevation, the average ele-
vation drop and the average hypsometric integral of
subbasins are also computed for a given threshold
value. Several runs have been carried out for both
rivers, and the results are plotted in Fig. 7.
This result generally agrees with the Hurtrez et
al.’s (1999) findings. When drainage basins become
smaller, their hypsometric integral becomes greater
and approaches 0.45 in both test cases (Fig. 7b). In
fact, parameters such as basin area, basin drop, etc.,
maintain a distinct linear relation with the hypso-
metric integral in the semilogarithmic plot (Fig. 7).
The proposition that varying influence of river and
hillslope processes is related to basin area (Hurtrez
et al., 1999) cannot explain the plots. The hypso-
metric integral decreases with increasing elevation
drop of a subbasin, which varies from downstream
to upstream (Fig. 7a). The hypsometric integral,
calculated by Eq. (2), tends to give a lower value
for larger basins because the elevation drop of a
 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137 119

Fig. 7. Hypsometric integral (HI) vs. (a) average basin area, (b) average elevation drop and (c) average (mean elevation  minimum elevation)
of subbasins for Sandieh and Chishue River.

larger basin (i.e. Hmax  Hmin) is overcounted. When
a drainage basin is divided into series of smaller
basins from upstream to downstream, the hypsomet-
ric integral of the upstream ones will be lower due
to the concave longitudinal profiles, and that of the
downstream ones will be higher due to the flatter
longitudinal profile (Fig. 8). The upstream landform
is erosional and lower in hypsometric integral; the
downstream landform is depositional and higher in
hypsometric integral. We may also regard the area
dependence of hypsometry as the consequence of
dividing up a drainage basin into infinitesimal units.
Should a subbasin become infinitesimal in size, the
hypsometric integral of each subbasin would approach
0.5, provided the DEM resolution is compatible. How
the rate of hypsometric integral increases with the
120 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137

Fig. 8. Spatial dependency of hypsometry. (a) The hypsometric integral varies with elevation drop from upstream reach to downstream reach.
(b) Small subbasin unit can resolve local variations due to lithology or tectonic element.

decreasing drainage area probably reflects the char-
acteristics of a river basin, and it will not be discussed
in this paper. Natural drainage basins are intrinsically
self-similar and can be subdivided infinitely. How-
ever, it is not practical to subdivide a drainage basin
infinitely because of the increasing computing effort
and inadequate resolution of the database. Neverthe-
less, we need to decrease basin area in order to
resolve the lithological variations or structural ele-
ments within a drainage basin. We shall further
examine the relation between geological factors and
hypsometry with varying basin area using the above
two river basins.
4.2.2. Spatial dependency of hypsometry
When a drainage basin is subdivided into smaller
subbasins, the hypsometric integral of a subbasin
may vary not only with basin area but also with its
relative position within the catchments (Fig. 8).
This is the spatial dependency of hypsometry. From
Eq. (2), one can perceive that the hypsometric
integral has an inverse relation to the elevation
drop of a drainage basin, provided the numerator
(i.e. Hmean  Hmin) remains constant. The numerator
is dependent on the degree of dissection of a sub-
basin in which Hmin is the elevation of the con-
fluence. The longitudinal profile of a graded river
usually takes a smoothly concave upward form with
a steep upstream reach and a gentle downstream
reach. The elevation drop of an upstream subbasin
is always greater than that of the downstream sub-
basin. The upstream subbasin tends to have a lower
hypsometric integral than the downstream subbasin
does, and consequently, the hypsometric integral
increases with a decreasing trend of elevation drop
(slope =  0.144) (Fig. 7b). The hypsometric integral
also increases with a decreasing amount of basin
dissection (slope =  0.2376) (Fig. 7c). They concur
 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137 121

to give a downstream positive trend of hypsometric
integral with a slope of 1.65. This tendency is
demonstrated by the scatter plot of the Huwe –
Sandieh River, which does show a negative trend
of the hypsometric integral with the elevation drop
(i.e. a positive downstream trend) (Fig. 9). The
downstream subbasins on the Coastal Plains have
higher hypsometric integral, while the upstream
subbasins on the Foothills have lower hypsometric
integral. Moreover, those subbasins located high
upon the mountains have exceptionally high hypso-
metric integral compared to the Foothills. The
mountain-type subbasins seem to be outlying in
relation to this trend and are not included in the
regression analysis. This spatial dependency of hyps-
ometry should be eliminated by a de-trending proc-
ess. Residuals of the regression analysis are then
taken into consideration for their relationship with
geological factors. Positive residuals of the hypso-
metric integral may represent subbasins with more
resistant rock or uplifted landmass. In contrast,
negative residuals of the hypsometric integral may

Fig. 9. Hypsometric integral vs. Basin Elevation Drop for Sandieh River. A regression line and its 68% and 95% confidence interval are shown.
Threshold value for the upper figure is 1 and 3 km2 for the lower figure. The mountain-type subbasins are not included in the regression
analysis.
122 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137

represent those with less resistant rock or depressed
landmass.
5. Test sites
The test sites are located in the southwestern
Foothills and Coastal Plain and belong to drainage
basins of the Sandieh, Neocho and Chishue Rivers.
The Sandieh River is one of the tributaries of the
Huwe River, which flows on the Coastal Plains into
Taiwan Strait (Fig. 10a). The Sandieh River originates
from the western slope of the Dagienshan in the
Western Foothills. It flows transversely across the
Dagienshan Fault (northern segment of the Chuko
Fault (F6)), the Chiochongkeng Fault (F7) (connected
with the Changhwa Fault (F4) to the north), the
Siaomei anticline (S1) and the Meishan Fault (F8).
Based on a fault-related fold model (Suppe, 1983;
Suppe and Medwedeff, 1990; Homza and Wallace,
1995), balanced geological sections have been con-
structed to show that the Chiochongkeng and Dag-
ienshan Faults are west-vergent low-angle thrusts
(30 f 40j dip) with related fault-bend-folds in the
Western Foothills (Fig. 11) (Yang and Hung, 2001).
The Meishan Fault and the Siaomei anticline are
probably inverse structures inherited from pre-existing
normal faults on the footwall of the Chiochongkeng
Fault. The lithology along its flow path varies down-
stream from the upper Miocene –lower Pliocene sandy
series, the Pleistocene silty to muddy series and the
alluvium. The lithological competence decreases
downstream, but the Hack profile of the Sandieh
River takes a convex form. The SL index increases
downstream and peaks at the segment between the
Dagienshan Fault and the Chiochongkeng Fault (Fig.
12). Although the Hack profile slightly depresses
between the Chiochongkeng Fault and the Meishan
Fault, the SL index can still reflect the structure
elements, such as the Siaomei anticline and the
Meishan Fault. The Meishan Fault is an earthquake
fault of the 1906 Meishan earthquake (ML = 7.1). The
Siaomei anticline is a recently uplifting structure,
evidenced by multistaged Holocene (?) river terraces
(Chen, 1999) and a horizontal velocity faster than 1.1
cm/year traversing the anticline axis (Yang and Hung,
2001).
The Kwechuong River is an upstream reach of the
Chishue River, which originates from the hanging wall
of the Lunghou Fault (the southern segment of the
Chuko Fault (F6)) (Fig. 10a). It runs immediately
across the Lunghou thrust, the very tightly folded
Nanliao anticline (S2), the relatively open folds includ-
ing the Chiendapu syncline (S3) and the Nieushan
anticline (S4), and the Liochia Fault (F10). The bal-
anced geologic sections illustrate that the Nanliao
anticline is a duplex structure of thrust blocks situated
immediately at the footwall of the Lunghou thrust
(Yang and Hung, 2001). The Muchiliau (F9) and
Liochia Fault (F10) are, however, interpreted as the
syncline hinge on the west wing of the Nanliao and
Niushan anticline (Fig. 11). To the west, there are
several blind thrusts and normal faults underneath the
Coastal Plain. The lithology along the flow path varies
downstream from the lower Pliocene shaly series, to
the Pleistocene silty to muddy series, and alluvium.
The Pleistocene series is relatively indurated and may
show some upward coarsening locally. The SL index
peaks at the Pleistocene Erchungchi Formation with a
value of about 200 (Fig. 5); for the Erchungchi For-
mation consists mainly of silty to fine sandstones
alternated with mudstones and is locally intercalated
with pebbles. It is also affected by existing structures,
the Chiendapu syncline and the Nieushan anticline, as
indicated by the sink and the rise of the SL index at the
respective sites. The Liochia Fault is also shown by the
sink of the index and it is interpreted as a syncline in
the balanced section (Fig. 11). The Hack profile of the
Kwechuong River takes a gently convex form in
general.
Different thresholds varying from 0.3 to 5 km2
have been applied to extract different sizes of sub-

Fig. 10. Hypsometric integral map of the Sandieh – Neocho – Chishue drainage basins. (a) Color layering according to original hypsometric
integral of subbasins. Threshold = 1 km2, average subbasin area = 2.1 km2. (b) Color layering according to standardized residuals after de-
trending regression of hypsometric integral on elevation drop. Dashed lines are locations for geological sections shown in Fig. 11, from north to
south, Line 5, Line 2, Line 1 and Line 9. Active faults are the Chuko (F6), Chiochongkeng (F7), Meishan (F8), Muchiliau (F9) and Liochia
(F10). Folds are the Siaomei anticline (S1), Nanliao anticline (S2), Chiendapu syncline (S3), Nieushan anticline (S4), Paiho syncline (S5) and
Mingshong syncline (S6).
Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137 123
 124
Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
Fig. 11. NW – SE balanced geological sections in southwestern Taiwan. Sections are labeled from north to south, Line 5, Line 2, Line 1, and Line 9. Location of each section is shown
in Fig. 10b. Balanced geological sections are constructed by Yang and Hung (2001).
 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
Fig. 12. Step curve of SL index and curved Hack profile of Sandieh River, a tributary of Putze River. Gray dashed lines are main lithological
boundaries. The profile starts at 100 m from the riverhead.
basins for the Sandieh –Neocho and Chishue – Kwe-
chuong River basin. Distributions of hypsometric
integral for different sizes of subbasins are highly
spatially dependent (Fig. 10a), i.e. the higher reach
basins have lower hypsometric integral and those
basins with higher hypsometric integral are distrib-
uted on the alluvial plains. A de-trending residual
analysis of the hypsometric integral on the Basin
Elevation Drop was carried out to eliminate this
spatial dependency (Fig. 10b). A common result
obtained for different sizes of subbasins has shown
that the hypsometric integral is not related to the
lithological variation; instead, it has a close relation
with tectonic elements (Fig. 10b). The correlation of
the residual pattern with the structural elements is
more evident as the subbasin area increases until it
extends beyond the size of the structural elements.
The residual hypsometric integral varies in an undu-
lating fashion from east to west. Residuals are
positively high at the river reach upstream from the
Chiochongkeng Fault (F7), then decrease toward
west, with the exception of high residuals at the
Siaomei anticline, until they reach the residual low at
the boundary between the hillslope and the plain.
125
The residual high is also distributed along the tightly
folded Nanliao anticline immediately at the footwall
of the Lunghou thrust and the Niushan anticline (Fig.
10b), and the residual trough is mainly located along
the Muchiliau (F9)– Liochia (F10) Fault that borders
the southwestern Foothills in this region. The Muchi-
liau –Liochia Fault was recently reinterpreted as the
surface trace of a syncline axis based on seismic
profiling (Yang and Hung, 2001). There is another
westward-undulating cycle of residuals on the Coastal
Plain. A broad belt of residual highs that runs north-
easterly on the alluvial plain does not show any
correlation with lithological variation, but is associ-
ated with the Paiho (S5) and Mingshong (S6) syn-
cline. Despite some local anomalies, the residual
pattern grossly reveals a sinuous variation in a wave-
length of about 10 km. It also generally fits the
anomalous stream-gradient pattern. The subbasins,
where the Hack profile is convex and the SL index
is higher, also possess high residual hypsometric
integral. Furthermore, the GPS velocity field in this
region shows a major horizontal velocity drop of
about 5 mm/year across the Lunghou thrust indicating
a less active footwall of the Lunghou Fault than that of
126 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
the Dagienshan Fault (Yang and Hung, 2001). This
agrees with the relatively lower SL index and lower
hypsometric integral of the Chishue River basin than
those of the Sandieh –Neocho River basin.
5.1. Integration of stream-gradient indices and
hypsometry
In summary, the SL index for smaller rivers is
primarily controlled by the competence of rocks and
is secondarily affected by geological structures due to
its relatively low stream power. The SL index for
larger rivers, however, reflects tectonic activity and is
not affected by the lithological variation at greater
scale. The convexity of Hack profiles for most of
rivers is indicative of differential uplift in a basin.
The local SL index can be further normalized by its
graded slope (k) to depict the steeper stream segment
of a river system. This normalized stream-gradient
(SL/k) can provide a measure to compare the stream-
gradient among rivers. Hypsometric integral for
smaller basins is more related to geological structures
and/or tectonic activities than to lithology despite
basin area. The stream-gradient indices are pertinent
to the linear aspect of topography, while the hypso-
metric integral deals with the volumetric aspect of
topography and is pertinent to the area – altitude
relation. The stream-gradient indices lose their reso-
lution in the lower reach of the river because river
length in the lower reach is greatly reduced by the
logarithmic scale. The hypsometry is equally appli-
cable to either upstream basins or downstream basins.
The normalized stream-gradient, the Hack profile and
the residual hypsometric integral are able to compare
among rivers the relative intensity of tectonic activity.
Concurrence of stream-gradient indices and hypsom-
etry implies a more significant tectonic implication.
In conclusion, integration of stream-gradient indices
and hypsometry gives us a better understanding of
regional tectonic activities than either technique pro-
vides on its own.
6. Results
The analysis of stream-gradient and hypsometry
was applied to a total of 16 river basins in the area
studied. Nine of them were also compared in chrono-
logical order based on the topographic databases
available to this study. The rivers can be preliminarily
classified into two groups based on their tectonic
terrains. The central group consists of the Daan,
Dachia, Wu and Chuoshue Rivers, situated in the
tectonic regime north of the Peikang Basement High;
the southwestern group consists of the Huwe, Neocho,
Bazhang, Chishue and Zhengwun Rivers, situated in
the tectonic regime south of the Peikang Basement
High.
6.1. Stream-gradient analysis
Generally speaking, convexity of the Hack profile
and the SL index value for each river both increase
northward with a distinctly higher value in the central
group than in the southwestern group (Fig. 13). The
major rivers in the central group show a convex shape
of the Hack profile that revealed an early stage of a
river adjusting to the fault movement (Fig. 4). The
major rivers in the southwestern group, on the con-
trary, show a slightly convex – concave shape of the
Hack profile that revealed a later stage of a river
adjusting to the fault movement (Fig. 4). The step SL
index curve shows a grossly downstream increasing
trend for each river. In most cases, the SL index
increases when it encounters faults. This implies
tectonic control rather than lithology on the river
development at the scale studied. The central group
shows the same characteristic rise of the step SL index
curve when the rivers encounter the west-vergent
frontal thrust system, which is composed of the
Shuelikeng, Shuangtung, Chelungpu and Changhwa
Faults. The SL indices all peak with a value more than
600 at the same segment between the Chelungpu and
Changhwa Faults where the rivers flow across the
alluvial plain. The tributaries of the Wu River also
show a common characteristic step curve of the SL
index with minor variation. The Butzu River cuts the
Chelungpu Fault in its upper reach and runs diago-
nally to it prior to the confluence point. The SL index
has a gentle peak at the Chelungpu Fault. The
Tobianken River may have slightly adjusted to litho-
logical variations in its upper reach before and after it
encounters the Shuangtung Fault and has a distinct SL
index peak at the Chelungpu Fault. The Tsaohu River
also has a sharp peak at the Chelungpu Fault with a
steeper normalized gradient (SL/k) than that of the
 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137 127

Fig. 13. Step SL index curves and Hack profiles in the area studied. Rivers on left column are in central Taiwan, those on right column are in
southwestern Taiwan. Steep river segment is designated by bold line. Plots are in same scale for comparison purposes.
128 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
Tobianken in light of the stream power because it has
a lower k (the graded slope). One may attribute the
steeper gradient of the Tsaohu to the fact that the
Tsaohu intersects the Chelungpu Fault at a higher
angle than the Tobianken does. The Mauluo River has
a slight bulge in the SL step curve at the segment
between the Shuangtung and Chelungpu Fault, prob-
ably due to its lower stream power and its oblique
intersection angle. To sum up, the characteristics of
the stream-gradient for the central group of rivers
indicate more evidence of geomorphic response to
tectonics in the region north of the Wu River.
The rivers in the southwestern group generally
have a less convex Hack profile and lower SL index
values than those in the central group (Fig. 13).
Unlike the central group, the step curves of the SL
index for rivers north of the Bazhang show broader
peaks when they encounter the frontal thrusts of the
Western Foothills in this region, namely the Chuko
and Chiochongkeng Faults. Their Hack profiles take a
convex form in the upstream reaches, but a concave
form below the graded profile downstream from the
Chiochongkeng Fault. The Sandieh River and Baz-
hang River intersect the thrust faults at high angles
and show better-defined peaks in SL index in the
regions corresponding to the faults. The Sandieh
River had been discussed previously in detail. The
Bazhang River has a steadily downstream rising SL
step curve until it cuts through the Laitou Fault (a left-
lateral strike-slip fault), which may have caused a
lowering of the SL index, but rises again when
encountering the Chuko Fault. Other rivers even have
a peak SL index downstream of the Chiochongkeng
Fault. The way that the rivers intersect the structure
may complicate the result. For instance, the Neocho
River runs parallel to the Chiochongkeng Fault right
after traversing it, and the peak value in the SL index
noted downstream of the fault may reflect the pres-
ence of associated structures the footwall of the
thrust, such as the Siaomei anticline. The rivers south
of the Bazhang have low stream power, and obvious
tectonic control on the stream-gradient is not evident.
Nevertheless, the Chishue River shows a response at
the Muchiliau Fault and upstream of the Liochia
Fault, as discussed in the previous section. The
Zhengwun River shows only a slight response to
the Lunghou Fault (southern extension of the Chuko
Fault).
In order to compare the stream-gradients among
rivers, we divided the local SL index along the river
profile by its graded slope (k) to normalize the effect
of stream power and stream order. We further
identify the significantly steeper segments with SL/
k>6 and the much steeper segments with SL/k>12.
We found that rivers in the central group do have a
much steeper gradient than those in the southwestern
group. Although most rivers in the central group
have a significantly steeper segment between the
Shuangtung and Changhwa Faults, the rivers in this
group are characterized by a much steeper reach in
the alluvium between the Chelungpu and Changhwa
Faults. These morphological features may not be
attributed to lithological control but to differential
deformation in different tectonic blocks of the West-
ern Foothills. According to the conceptual model
shown in Fig. 3, the downstream segment below the
uplifted block tends to have a steeper gradient than
its upper one. This implies that the Chelungpu Fault
block may be more active than others.
6.2. Hypsometry
Subbasins of a drainage system draining from the
high mountains, through the hills and plains to the sea,
are distributed over entire catchments. We divide
these subbasins into three categories to accommodate
the spatial dependence of hypsometry. They are the
mountain-type, the hill-type and the plain-type sub-
basins. The mountain-type basin has an average
elevation higher than 500 m; the hill-type has an
average elevation in the range from 50 to 500 m
and a basin relief of more than 50 m; the plain-type
occurs at less than 50 m in average elevation and has
less than 50 m in basin relief. A threshold contributing
area of 3 km2 was selected to extract subbasins from
20 rivers studied in the Western Foothills. The ele-
vation drop has a discernible trend with hypsometric
integral of the subbasins (Fig. 14). The plain-type
subbasin has a higher hypsometric integral and a
smaller elevation drop while the hill-type has the
opposite. Most of the mountain-type basins have,
however, high elevation drops and high hypsometric
integrals and are outlying in relation to the trend. They
are excluded from the regression analysis but are
plotted in the same graph to show their relations to
the hill-type and plain-type basins. The residual values
 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137 129

Fig. 14. Hypsometric integral vs. Basin Elevation Drop for drainage basins in the entire area studied. A regression line and its 68% and 95%
confidence interval are shown. Average elevation of mountain-type subbasin >500 m; 500 m >hill-type >50 m, plain-type < 50 m; basin relief of
hill-type >50 m, plain-type < 50 m. A threshold contributing area of 3 km2 was applied.

of hypsometric integrals after de-trending analysis are
standardized by the standard deviation of the regres-
sion. Color-layering plot of the standardized residuals
is done by use of the MapInfo system to integrate the
results from stream-gradient analysis of the Western
Foothills (Fig. 15). The residual pattern is illustrated
by a rainbow color layering with warm color repre-
senting positive residuals and cool color representing
negative residuals.
A total of 1114 basins with an average basin area
of 6.47 km2 were delineated in the entire area
studied. Most of the mountain-type basins (88%) fall
in the region above the 68% confidence interval and
have high positive residuals if the de-trending anal-
ysis performed on the hill-type and plain-type basins
is also applied to the mountain-type basins (Fig. 14).
They are distributed over an area east of the Sanyi –
Shungtung –Chuko Fault, where the mountain range
has long been highly uplifted (Fig. 15). Statistically,
there are about 21.83% basins in the central Foothills
featured with high positive residuals (standardized
residual >2), in contrast with only 7.62% in the
southwestern Foothills. They are all distributed over
an area between the Shuangtung Fault and the
Changhwa Fault. It is noted that the Taichung basin,
interpreted as a piggyback basin in the thrust system
(Lu et al., 1998), is characterized by high residuals.
The Quaternary active anticlines (the Pakua, Tatu
and Tiehchenshan) related to the Changhwa Fault
also have high residuals. In the southwestern Foot-
hills, basins with high residuals are mostly distrib-
uted over an area on the hanging wall of the Chuko
Fault. Only patches of high residuals are distributed
on the Coastal Plains. Many basins with negative
residuals are distributed along the coast in south-
western Taiwan.
By and large, the positive residual basins domi-
nate the central Foothills on the hanging wall of the
frontal thrusts except a distinct NW-trending trough
of negative residual basins along the Wu River (Fig.
15). The Puli basin, interpreted as a pull-apart basin
(Lu et al., 1998), is also characterized by negative
residuals. The positive residuals dominate the hang-
ing wall of the Chuko Fault. A linear trough of
negative residual basins is distributed along the
border of the southwestern Foothills and is bounded
on its west side by a roughly parallel crest of residual
high basins on the Coastal Plain. The hypsometric
integral is generally low on the coastal region where
data control is limited. However, some residual
anomalies are found to be associated with the known
fold structures mapped by Sun (1963, 1964, 1965)
and the Peikang Basement High is highlighted by
positive residuals.
130 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137 131

7. Discussion 7.1. Data consistency

Burbank and Anderson (2001) defined intermedi-
ate time scales of tectonic deformation and landscape
responses at intervals extending from the Holocene–
Pleistocene boundary (10 ka) to about 300– 400 ka.
Over such time scales, the landscape reflects the sum
of both episodic and continuous tectonic and geo-
morphic processes. Erosion becomes an increasingly
important factor in modifying the landscape; pristine
tectonic forms become degraded over these longer
intervals. There is a sufficient time for interactions
between discrete deformation events and ongoing
surface processes to shape the landscape into char-
acteristic forms, such that river patterns and basin
geometries can be viewed as recording these inter-
actions. The geomorphic indices of stream-gradient
and basin hypsometry used in this study provide not
only a first-order characterization but also a glimpse
of temporal change in rates of crustal deformation in
the Western Foothills. Knowledge of such longer-
term deformation is invaluable when trying either to
understand the implications of a shorter-term record
(geodetic measurements for example) or to assess its
validity. Nevertheless, such a study can only indi-
rectly calibrate rates of deformation at these time
scales because stream channels and hillslopes repre-
sent an integrated response to ongoing deformation,
base-level change and climatic change. Base-level
change and climatic change had not been considered
in this study because the area studied is restricted to
a relatively small scale. Denudation rates in this
region, estimated from sediment loads transported
by rivers, vary from east to west (not from north to
south) from 1 to 10 mm/year (Su, 1973, 1985) in
contrast to an uplift rate of 10– 40 mm/year esti-
mated by retriangulation during a 60-year period
(Chen, 1984). Tectonic deformation, therefore, may
play a major role in shaping the landscape features
that characterize different tectonic regimes in western
Taiwan. We shall elaborate the tectonic significance
below.
The hypsometric integral of a subbasin is calcu-
lated by automatically subtracting data cells from the
DEM. A common threshold is applied to all rivers
studied to control the size and order of subbasins. The
mountain-type subbasins are not detrended to further
discuss the variations of hypsometric integrals in the
mountain range. The hill-type and plain-type subba-
sins of the Western Foothills are lumped together to
do the residual analysis. Data consistency is main-
tained by comparison among rivers. However, one
must be cautious about using stream-gradient indices
to access the relative tectonic activity among drainage
basins. The value of SL index is calculated by the
river length, and the graded slope of a Hack profile k
is determined by the elevation of the riverhead. Deter-
mination of the source of a river is sometimes difficult
especially when rivers have very steep gradients at
their upper reach, because the upper reach length is
heavily weighted in a logarithmic scale. One should
be careful not to compare the absolute value of SL
index among different rivers; instead, comparing
among them using their normalized stream-gradient,
SL/k, is more reliable. The same treatment was used
by Seeber and Gornitz (1983) in their study of
Himalayan Rivers. They distinguished between local
gradient indices (SL) that, when compared to the
graded gradient index (k) for the entire river profile,
were significantly steeper (SL/k = 2) and much steeper
(SL/k = 10) than the ideal profile. The greatest anoma-
lies in stream-gradient were found to correspond to the
surface trace of the Main Central Thrust, which has
been active at least as recently as about 2 Ma
(Harrison et al., 1997). In this study, the normalized
stream-gradient is further classified into three catego-
ries (SL/k>3, >6 and >12) in order to resolve more
details.
Attention should also be paid to the stream order
when comparing the absolute values of the SL index
among rivers. Merritts and Vincent (1989) suggest in
their study of stream-gradient adjustment to bedrock

Fig. 15. Morphotectonic provinces of western Taiwan based on stream-gradient and hypsometry. Standardized residual pattern of hypsometric
integral is shown in color layers. Warm color denotes positive residual and cool color denotes negative residual. Steepness of river segment is
shown by bold line. There are five provinces divided by four transfer faults. STFZ: Sanyi Transfer Fault Zone, PTFZ: Pakuashan Transfer
Fault Zone, ChiTFZ: Chiayi Transfer Fault Zone, CTFZ: Chishan Transfer Fault Zone. (A) The marginal hinge fault of Peikang Basement
High. (B) and (G), normal faults in the basement high. See Fig. 2 for reference of rivers and active faults.
132 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
uplift in the Mendocino area, California, that higher-
order streams are less affected by tectonism. Larger
streams may be able to maintain their longitudinal
profiles by downcutting sufficiently rapidly to keep
pace with the base-level lowering. In contrast, smaller
streams are unable to incise at a rate sufficient to equal
the rate of base-level lowering, and through time,
accumulate the effects of net base-level fall. Intui-
tively, larger streams, therefore, tend to have lower SL
indices and less convex Hack profiles. If a higher-
order stream does have a higher SL index and a more
convex Hack profile than that of a lower-order stream,
it is probably subjected to faster bedrock uplift. The
angle that a river intersects a geologic structure is
another factor that may affect the value of SL index
and complicate the comparison among rivers.
7.2. Implications of crustal deformation
There is a contrast in central Taiwan between the
permanent deformation induced by the Chi-Chi earth-
quake and the displacement vectors monitored by the
GPS Network (Fig. 1). The displacement vectors
diminish northward to a magnitude less than 10
mm/year, while the coseismic deformation increases
northward from 2 f 3 to 7 f 8 m in both the hori-
zontal and vertical sense. The short-term uplift rate in
this area, estimated by retriangulation over a 60-year
period (Chen, 1984), is on the order of 10 mm/year,
which is only 1/3 of the rate seen in the southwestern
Foothills. The displacement vectors become evidently
greater in the southwestern than in the central Foot-
hills with a major discontinuity across the Chuko
Fault. On the contrary, the rates of crustal deforma-
tion, inferred from the stream-gradient indices and
hypsometry, coincide with the coseismic deformation
of the Chi-Chi earthquake. The steepest river gra-
dients are associated with the Chelungpu Fault. This
fault exhibits a long-term higher uplift rate in the
central than in the southwestern Foothills (Figs. 13
and 15). There is a further indication of an even higher
uplift rate revealed by the temporal change in SL
index in the past century in the area north of the Wu
River, where the greatest coseismic deformation
occurred (Sung et al., 2000). The higher positive
hypsometric residuals in the block north of the Wu
River also confirm this argument. The rivers also
exhibit a significantly steeper gradient at places where
some coseismic deformation appeared to the east of
the Shuangtung and Shuelikeng Faults.
The GPS velocity field obtained in Taiwan has
been assumed to reflect the long-term deformation as
opposed to the elastic response because of the limited
change observed before and after major earthquakes.
The deformation pattern revealed by the GPS veloc-
ities is also consistent with the tectonic framework
(Yu et al., 1997; Hu et al., 2001). Under this assump-
tion, we may propose that the crustal deformation in
the central Foothills is characterized by a more rapid
uplift rate and a slower horizontal shortening rate than
in the southwestern Foothills. The upward ramp of the
frontal thrust system in the Western Foothills above a
shallow décollement might be steeper in the central
than in the southwestern Foothills. Moreover, (1) the
Hack profiles in the central Foothills are characterized
by an early stage of adjusted profile to fault move-
ment, while those in the southwestern Foothills are of
a later stage (Fig. 4), and (2) higher values of the
geomorphic indices of the stream-gradient and hyps-
ometry occur in the central Foothills as opposed to the
southwestern Foothills (Figs. 13 and 15). These
observations suggest a relatively high tectonic rate
in the central Foothills.
7.3. Tectonic implications of morphotectonic prov-
inces
There are along-strike variations of morphotectonic
features characterized by the stream-gradient indices
and hypsometry in the Western Foothills. The hypso-
metric residual pattern varies greatly from high resid-
uals in the central part to low residuals in the southern
part of the Foothills. The stream-gradient indices,
including the SL index and the Hack profile, of major
rivers also varies greatly from north to south. A series
of N140jE-trending transfer fault zones recognized
by Deffontaines et al. (1994, 1997) and Lacombe et al.
(1999) seem to be able to distinguish the variation of
geomorphic indices into five zones (Fig. 15). Each
zone can be characterized by geomorphic features
based on stream-gradient indices and hypsometric
measures (Table 1) and is thus defined as a morpho-
tectonic province. Each province is bounded by these
N140jE structural boundaries, which were interpreted
as left-lateral transfer fault zones, either inherited from
the Eurasian passive margin and/or newly formed in
 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
Table 1
Geomorphic features of different morphotectonic provinces in western Taiwan
Morphotectonic Hypsometric integral
province
(I) Taichung high positive residuals on the foothills.
Negative residuals on the Coastal Plain
Pakuashan Transfer Fault Zone
(II) Touliu low positive residuals in the foothills.
High positive residuals on the Coastal
Plain. Negative residuals along the
border of the foothills
Chiayi Transfer Fault Zone
(III) Hsinyin very low positive residuals on the
foothills. A pair of positive and negative
residual belt on the Coastal Plains
Chishan Transfer Fault Zone
(IV) Tainan low positive to negative residuals except
on some local structures
the sedimentary cover in response to the presence of
basement highs within the foreland basin (the Peikang
and Kuanyin highs). The NW-trending transfer faults
are aligned with the thrust transport direction and
likely separate two parts of a given thrust sheet where
each part may have different displacements and rate of
deformation (McClay, 1992).
Morphotectonic province I is located in the middle
of the large curvature of the mountain front and
corresponds to a transitional structural domain of
frontal areas of the Western Foothills where structural
trends change northward from dominantly N10 –
20jE to N70jE orientations. The Kuanyin Basement
High is situated at the northwestern corner. The
structural change may reflect the inverted tectonics
of numerous high-angle reverse faults with right-
lateral strike-slip component to accommodate the
basement geometry (Huang et al., 1993; Shen et al.,
1996). The Sanyi thrust (northern extension of the
Chelungpu Fault) marks the western boundary of the
highly uplifted mountain-type basins. The trend in the
GPS velocity field gradually changes clockwise from
WNW – ESE to N –S, and finally to E – W. The Sanyi
Transfer Fault Zone (STFZ) can be delineated by the
offset of the geomorphic pattern. The STFZ coincides
with the Sanyi – Puli seismic concentration zone,
which may imply the existence of a structurally weak
zone.
133
Stream-gradient Hack profile
much steep gradient SL/k>12 very convex in shape, an early staged
on the foothills adjustment to fault movement
significantly steep gradient less convex, an embay S-shape
12>SL/k>6 on the foothills
significantly steep gradient much less convex
12>SL/k>6 on the foothills
The structural domain of the morphotectonic prov-
ince II trends north – south as opposed to the major
plate convergence from the southeast. From west to
east, the Changhwa Fault, Chelungpu Fault and
Shungtung Fault are the major thrusts. The Shungtung
Fault lies at the western boundary of highly uplifted
basins. The Changhwa Fault marks the deformation
front of the foothills with actively growing anticlines
(e.g. the Tiehchenshan anticline, Tatu anticline and
Pakua anticline). The province is situated in the
transpressional tectonic regime north of the Peikang
Basement High. The Pakua Transfer Fault Zone
(PTFZ) is indicated by an N140jE trend of a hypso-
metric integral trough along the Wu River in central
Taiwan. The sinuous frontal thrusts as well as a left-
lateral shift of the residual highs also suggest the
existence of the PTFZ. Geologic evidence for the
PTFZ had been thoroughly discussed in many papers
(e.g. Delcaillau et al., 1998; Mouthereau et al., 1999;
Delcaillau, 2001). The shift in velocity of GPS sta-
tions (Yu et al., 1997) in the southwestern Backbone
Range to the E –W direction instead of the general
NW convergent direction also suggests that there
might be left lateral movement along this boundary
(Fig. 1).
Morphotectonic province III is characterized by its
north –south to northeasterly trending frontal thrust
systems, the Chiochongkeng (F7) and Chuko (F6)
134 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
Faults, which correspond to the Changhwa (F4) and
Chelungpu (F3) Faults in the morphotectonic province
II. The thrust systems and associated N60 f 70jE-
directed normal faults correspond with the Peikang
Basement High. The normal faults are either the
marginal hinge faults of the Peikang Basement High
or related to extensional features of the Neogene
Tainan basins south of the Peikang Basement High
(Tang, 1977). The high positive residuals and the
much steeper stream-gradient of the Chuoshue River
reflect the compressional regime prevailing at the
northeastern corner of the Peikang Basement High.
The epicenter of the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake inci-
dentally falls in this regime. South to the Chuoshue
River, the Chuko Fault bounds the highly uplifted
basins. The lower geomorphic indices in the foothills
relative to those in the provinces I and II suggest that
the frontal thrusts are situated in a less compressional
tectonic regime. Further south, the frontal thrust is
shifted to the east, and the deformation is taken up by
the Chuko Fault across the Chiayi Transfer Fault Zone
(ChiTFZ) in the morphotectonic province IV.
The Chiochongkeng Fault terminates in the prov-
ince III and is replaced by a syncline hinge in its
equivalent structural position in the Province IV,
where it used to be interpreted as the Muchiliau and
Liochia Fault. The ChiTFZ can be delineated accord-
ing to the left-lateral shift of the residual pattern. In
contrast to the central Foothills, the morphotectonic
features in the southwestern Foothills may be attrib-
uted to a large transtension zone existing to the south
of the Peikang high (Yang et al., 1991, 1994; Biq,
1990). The Meishan Fault of the 1906 Meishan earth-
quake in province III and the Hsinhwa Fault of the
1946 Hsinhwa earthquake in province V were of
right-lateral sense. Earthquake focal mechanisms indi-
cate some extensional events, and geomagnetic data
show a diachronic clockwise rotation in this area (Yeh
et al., 1991; Horng, 1991). A GPS velocity disconti-
nuity of 10– 28 mm/year is detected across the Chuko
Fault, where remarkable strain accumulation rates are
also observed (Yu and Chen, 1994). In the Kaoh-
siung – Pingtung coastal area, the station velocities are
even directed toward the southwest. Residual lows
dominate morphotectonics province V across the
Chishan Transfer Fault Zone (CTFZ) except for some
local residual highs associated with the Tainan pop-up
structure and the Chungchou anticline. These argu-
ments suggest that a dextral shear zone bounds the
southern edge of the Peikang high. This zone marks
the boundary of the weak accretionary wedge offshore
southwestern Taiwan as it moves around the Peikang
high in response to oblique convergence (Hu et al.,
1997).
An arcuate belt of negative residuals is situated
along the border of the southwestern Foothills in the
alluvial plain in both tectonic provinces III and IV.
The low residuals are either associated with the
mapped synclines or reflect the east-dipping under-
lying strata in the footwall of the frontal thrusts
(Figs. 11 and 15) (Sun, 1963, 1964, 1965; Yang
and Hung, 2001). This low residual belt encompasses
a relatively high residual area on the Coastal Plains,
which corresponds to the eastern boundary of the
Peikang Basement High. The rivers flow on this low
residual belt with a lower sinuosity but increase in
sinuosity when flowing into the high residual zone.
These observations suggest that the residual pattern
reflects the differential uplift and subsidence in the
alluvial plain that has not been compensated by
surface processes. A large-scale subsurface structural
ramp vergent to the northwest has been recognized in
this region of the mountain front based on seismic
profiles traversing the Chiayi –Paiho –Hsinyin route
(Yang and Hung, 2001). The local high residuals are
associated with the anticlines mapped by Sun (1963,
1964, 1965) and are probably related to reactivated
pre-existing normal faults and inversion tectonics in
southwestern Taiwan (Chang et al., 1996). The
hypsometric anomaly may indicate that the deforma-
tion front may have migrated to the Coastal Plain
instead of the mountain front in the southwestern
Taiwan.
8. Conclusions
Geomorphic indices have been developed as basic
reconnaissance tools to identify areas experiencing
rapid tectonic deformation. Integration of the normal-
ized stream-gradient, the semilogarithmic plot of
longitudinal river profiles and the residual hypsomet-
ric integral of small basins can effectively distinguish
morphotectonic features in different tectonic regimes.
Along-strike variations of morphotectonic features in
the Western Foothills of Taiwan have been character-
 Y.-C. Chen et al. / Geomorphology 56 (2003) 109–137
ized based on the geomorphic indices discussed in this
paper. A high uplift but low shortening rate typifies
the crustal deformation style in the transpressional
regime north of the Peikang Basement High. In con-
trast, a low uplift but high shortening rate character-
izes the crustal deformation style in the transtensional
regime south of the Peikang Basement High. In
addition to this, several oblique transfer fault zones
can be delineated based on the offset of the geo-
morphic patterns. These arguments suggest that obli-
que plate convergence and the presence of basement
highs within the Chinese margin play the major role in
shaping the morphotectonic features of the Western
Foothills of Taiwan. The present-day landforms are
also strongly influenced by the presence of major
zones of relative weakness and mechanical decou-
pling inside the collision zone.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the National Science
Council, ROC under the project of NSC90-2119-M-
017-001. The authors are greatly indebted to Dr.
Daniel Ponti of the USGS for his critical review.
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