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Simulation of the evolution of drainage-basin networks with a digital computer

1963; American Geophysical Union; Volume: 68; Issue: 20 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1029/jz068i020p05739

2156-2202

Hilbert Schenck,

Groundwater flow and contamination studies

The techniques of Monte-Carlo or random-walk computer simulation, applied with considerable success in nuclear and molecular physics, can also be utilized to generate hypothetical drainage-basin networks. Stream direction within the basin is controlled entirely by random choice, subject only to the constraints that reverse flow and closed loops are not permitted. A program suitable for the IBM 1620 digital computer is described that will generate a rectangular basin of 600 area units. Resulting networks are analyzed and the results are compared with field data. The computer-generated networks compare very closely with natural streams as regards stream lengths and numbers of streams of various order. Comparison is also made with Gray's area-length correlation. Although there is considerable scatter in the computer data, Gray's law is roughly predicted by the random-walk models.