6533b7d7fe1ef96bd126858b

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Analyse morphologique de talwegs et comportement scalant : applications des dimensions non-entières à la géographie physique

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Morphological talweg analysis and scaling behaviour: applying non-integer dimension to physical geography. -- The organisation of the talweg network is fundamental to the erosion system on the silty loamy plateaux of north-western France. The morphology of the Pays de Caux is a good example of successive runoff concentration caused by the nesting of small dry valleys. These are inherited from a periglacial climate and their general direction is governed by tectonics. However the detailed pattern of these forms remains complex and without obvious explanation. Non-integer dimensions may offer a ceratin logic to this relatively chaotic pattern. This paper has therefore sought to demonstrate the fractal side of these talwegs by incorporating lithology as an explanatory variable.