Articles | Volume 14, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-517-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-517-2026
Research article
 | 
07 Jul 2026
Research article |  | 07 Jul 2026

Evolution of seepage driven networks in the lab

Céleste Romon, Eric Lajeunesse, and François Métivier

Cited articles

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Bear, J.: Dynamics of Fluids in Porous Media, Fundamentals of Transport Phenomena in Porous Media, Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-444-00114-6, 1972. a
Berhanu, M., Petroff, A., Devauchelle, O., Kudrolli, A., and Rothman, D. H.: Shape and dynamics of seepage erosion in a horizontal granular bed, Phys. Rev. E, 86, 041304, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.86.041304, 2012. a, b
Boussinesq, J.: Essai sur la théorie des eaux courantes, Impr. nationale, Paris, https://www.scribd.com/document/247112142/Boussinesq-1877-Essai-Sur-La-Theorie-Des-Eaux-Courantes, 1877. a, b
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Short summary
When groundwater emerges at the surface with sufficient force, it erodes the landscape and forms river networks. We reproduce this process in laboratory experiments to investigate the interplay between network growth and the resulting modification of surrounding groundwater flow. We present a numerical method which reconstructs the groundwater flow in the experimental aquifer. We find that groundwater converges toward channel tips, explaining why network growth occurs preferentially at the tips.
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