A cellular automata approach for modelling complex river systems

Abstract

Rivers can be treated as transportation networks which supply or collect and remove certain resources from the surrounding environment. A positive feedback between environment and river network both reshapes the configuration of the terrain and produces dynamically stable web of river channels. Anastomosing rivers exemplify such interactions very clearly. In case of this specific type of river, nutrients carried by water disseminate to the surrounding soil and stimulate growth of peat-forming plants. Vertical accumulation of peats changes the shape of terrain and influence river network. We present a model of anastomosing river system based on Cellular Automata paradigm. Principal phenomena that contribute to evolution of such a river system are encoded as rules of local interactions. We discuss extensively the parameters and their influence on simulation results. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.