CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : De Boer, D.H.; and Ali, K.F.
Date : 2002.
Title : Sediment budgets and self-organization in a cellular landscape model.
Publication : The Structure, Function and Management Implications of Fluvial Sedimentary Systems (Proceedings of an international symposium held at Alice Springs, Australia, September 2002). Edited by: F.J. Dyer; M.C. Thoms; and J.M. Olley. International Association of Hydrological Sciences Publication
Issue : 276:
Page(s) : 365-372.
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 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. Sediment transport is triggered by the occurrence of rainstorms of varying magnitude. Starting with a randomly generated topography, over time a drainage network evolves. For storms of a specific magnitude, total sediment yield varies over more than three orders of magnitude, even though there are no external 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