CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : DeBoer, D.
Date : 2001.
Title : Sediment dynamics and self-organization in a cellular landscape model.
Publication : The Canadian Association of Geographers/l'association Canadienne des Géographes. 2001 Annual Meeting. 50th Anniversary of the CAG Jointly Organised by McGill University, Concordia University and Université de Montréal Tuesday May 29 – Sunday June 3, 2001
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
Self-organization is the development of ordered patterns in the functional and morphological characteristics of a system. Drainage basins exhibit self-organization resulting from the interaction of the components, such as the sub-basins, slopes and channels, which are linked by exchanges of water and sediment. This paper discusses a cellular model of the sediment dynamics of a fluvial landscape. In the model, sediment transport is triggered by the occurrence of rainstorms of varying magnitude. Sediment is routed from cell to cell using a transport equation in which the transport rate is proportional to the gradient to the power of an exponent. The model allows both erosion and deposition of sediment, depending on the sediment input and output of a cell. Starting with a randomly generated topography, over time a drainage network evolves. For storms of a specific magnitude, total sediment yield varies over approximately four orders of magnitude, even though there are no factors in the model that can be invoked to explain these variations. Instead, total sediment yield reflects the recent sediment dynamics of the basins. The frequency distribution of total sediment yield normalized using storm magnitude plots as a single curve, enabling prediction of total sediment yields for unrecorded high magnitude rainstorms.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology