| Efficient and stable methods have been recently developed to solve the stream power equation
and compute the evolution of fluvial landforms (Braun and Willett, 2013). We have developed
new algorithms to couple in an almost equally efficient and stable manner this equation with
those governing the rate of production and transport of sediment from the hillslopes into the
channels. We have also included the effect of the sedimentary load on the erosional and
transport efficiency of river channels, as well as transport/erosional thresholds without
perturbing the overall efficiency of the method. Using this new numerical tool, we show the
complex behaviour of a coupled system where fluvial incision and transport interact with
hillslope processes to predict the evolution of landforms in a variety of uplift (tectonic)
environments. We also compute age distributions as a function of drainage area and
show how they can be used as constrains on the various erosional and transport
parameters.
Braun, J. and Willett, S.D., 2013. A very efficient O(n), implicit and parallel method to solve the stream power
equation governing fluvial incision and landscape evolution. Geomorphology, v. 180-181, pp.
170-179. |