Articles | Volume 9, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1545-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1545-2021
Research article
 | 
13 Dec 2021
Research article |  | 13 Dec 2021

Graphically interpreting how incision thresholds influence topographic and scaling properties of modeled landscapes

Nikos Theodoratos and James W. Kirchner

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Cited articles

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Short summary
We examine stream-power incision and linear diffusion landscape evolution models with and without incision thresholds. We present a steady-state relationship between curvature and the steepness index, which plots as a straight line. We view this line as a counterpart to the slope–area relationship for the case of landscapes with hillslope diffusion. We show that simple shifts and rotations of this line graphically express the topographic response of landscapes to changes in model parameters.