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Local minimal energy landscapes in river networks

Achille Giacometti
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Abstract

The existence and stability of the universality class associated to local minimal energy landscapes is investigated. Using extensive numerical simulations, we first study the dependence on a parameter $γ$ of a partial differential equation which was proposed to describe the evolution of a rugged landscape toward a local minimum of the dissipated energy. We then compare the results with those obtained by an evolution scheme based on a variational principle (the optimal channel networks). It is found that both models yield qualitatively similar river patterns and similar dependence on $γ$. The aggregation mechanism is however strongly dependent on the value of $γ$. A careful analysis suggests that scaling behaviors may weakly depend both on $γ$ and on initial condition, but in all cases it is within observational data predictions. Consequences of our results

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BibTeXRIS

Achille Giacometti. 2000-08-29. Local minimal energy landscapes in river networks. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.62.6042

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