MINIMUM ENERGY-DISSIPATION MODEL FOR RIVER BASIN GEOMETRY

A simple minimum energy dissipation model has been used to simulate th e distribution of rivers and river basins in a region with a square bo undary. The cumulative distribution of basin areas N(A > A ) was foun d to have a power law form N(A > A)is similar to A*-(tau-1) with an e xponent (tau - 1) that is close to the value of 1/2 obtained from a si mple scaling theory. The boundaries of the river basins were found to be self-similar with a fractal dimension of about 1.10. In many respec ts (distribution of stream internal link lengths, distribution of ener gy dissipation, basin boundary geometry, etc.) the results obtained fr om this model are similar to data obtained from natural channel networ ks. In other respects significant differences remain. In particular, t he main channels of the individual rivers are much straighter than tho se of real rivers.