Geography and the Properties of Surfaces. Spatial Order in Fluvial Systems: Horton'S Laws Derived from Mixed Hexagonal Hierarchies of Drainage Basin Areas

摘要

The paper will show that the number of drainage basins in a fluvial system developed on a homogeneous surface is predictable, or explainable. The explanation of the numbers of basins is derived from a hexagonal model. In fact the model is exactly the same one used to predict the numbers of market areas per order in a system of central places, i.e. the cumulation of the numbers of towns of order u, and all higher orders. (Woldenberg, 1968). The paper will suggest that the equilibrium state in fluvial systems reflects a combination of least work and maximum possible entropy.