Global Analysis of Topographic and Climatic Controls on Drainage Basin Shapes
Drainage basins are fundamental units of Earth's surface, describing how flows accumulate across landscapes. They are direct expressions of how tectonics and climatic forces alter Earth's surface morphology. Here, we measure the width-to-length ratios (WLRs) of 386,931 drainage basins (ave...
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American Geophysical Union
2024
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ftethz:oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/670801 2024-09-09T19:10:25+00:00 Global Analysis of Topographic and Climatic Controls on Drainage Basin Shapes Li, Minhui id_orcid:0 000-0002-5974-4632 Seybold, Hansjörg id_orcid:0 000-0002-3793-1904 Wu, Baosheng Chen, Yi Fu, Xudong Kirchner, James W. id_orcid:0 000-0001-6577-3619 2024-04-28 application/application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/670801 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000670801 en eng American Geophysical Union info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1029/2023GL105804 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/001208251400002 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/670801 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000670801 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Geophysical Research Letters, 51 (8) info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2024 ftethz https://doi.org/20.500.11850/67080110.3929/ethz-b-00067080110.1029/2023GL105804 2024-06-19T21:03:16Z Drainage basins are fundamental units of Earth's surface, describing how flows accumulate across landscapes. They are direct expressions of how tectonics and climatic forces alter Earth's surface morphology. Here, we measure the width-to-length ratios (WLRs) of 386,931 drainage basins (average area ∼157 km2), covering all continents except Antarctica and Greenland. Global variations in WLRs are correlated with climatic aridity, whole-basin slope, and local topographic roughness. Basins in arid landscapes tend to be narrower, potentially reflecting a higher prevalence of surface runoff and therefore a stronger slope-parallel component of the transporting flow. Local topographic roughness is associated with wider basins, potentially reflecting greater dispersion of flow directions. Conversely, whole-basin topographic gradients, potentially reflecting gradients in uplift, are associated with narrower basins. However, steeper basins are also often rougher, so revealing the effects of whole-basin slope requires correcting for the confounding effects of roughness variations. ISSN:0094-8276 ISSN:1944-8007 Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Greenland ETH Zürich Research Collection Greenland |
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Open Polar |
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ETH Zürich Research Collection |
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ftethz |
language |
English |
description |
Drainage basins are fundamental units of Earth's surface, describing how flows accumulate across landscapes. They are direct expressions of how tectonics and climatic forces alter Earth's surface morphology. Here, we measure the width-to-length ratios (WLRs) of 386,931 drainage basins (average area ∼157 km2), covering all continents except Antarctica and Greenland. Global variations in WLRs are correlated with climatic aridity, whole-basin slope, and local topographic roughness. Basins in arid landscapes tend to be narrower, potentially reflecting a higher prevalence of surface runoff and therefore a stronger slope-parallel component of the transporting flow. Local topographic roughness is associated with wider basins, potentially reflecting greater dispersion of flow directions. Conversely, whole-basin topographic gradients, potentially reflecting gradients in uplift, are associated with narrower basins. However, steeper basins are also often rougher, so revealing the effects of whole-basin slope requires correcting for the confounding effects of roughness variations. ISSN:0094-8276 ISSN:1944-8007 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Li, Minhui id_orcid:0 000-0002-5974-4632 Seybold, Hansjörg id_orcid:0 000-0002-3793-1904 Wu, Baosheng Chen, Yi Fu, Xudong Kirchner, James W. id_orcid:0 000-0001-6577-3619 |
spellingShingle |
Li, Minhui id_orcid:0 000-0002-5974-4632 Seybold, Hansjörg id_orcid:0 000-0002-3793-1904 Wu, Baosheng Chen, Yi Fu, Xudong Kirchner, James W. id_orcid:0 000-0001-6577-3619 Global Analysis of Topographic and Climatic Controls on Drainage Basin Shapes |
author_facet |
Li, Minhui id_orcid:0 000-0002-5974-4632 Seybold, Hansjörg id_orcid:0 000-0002-3793-1904 Wu, Baosheng Chen, Yi Fu, Xudong Kirchner, James W. id_orcid:0 000-0001-6577-3619 |
author_sort |
Li, Minhui |
title |
Global Analysis of Topographic and Climatic Controls on Drainage Basin Shapes |
title_short |
Global Analysis of Topographic and Climatic Controls on Drainage Basin Shapes |
title_full |
Global Analysis of Topographic and Climatic Controls on Drainage Basin Shapes |
title_fullStr |
Global Analysis of Topographic and Climatic Controls on Drainage Basin Shapes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Global Analysis of Topographic and Climatic Controls on Drainage Basin Shapes |
title_sort |
global analysis of topographic and climatic controls on drainage basin shapes |
publisher |
American Geophysical Union |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/670801 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000670801 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland |
op_source |
Geophysical Research Letters, 51 (8) |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1029/2023GL105804 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/001208251400002 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/670801 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000670801 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11850/67080110.3929/ethz-b-00067080110.1029/2023GL105804 |
_version_ |
1809825455556001792 |