ISSN 2070-7401 (Print), ISSN 2411-0280 (Online)
Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa
CURRENT PROBLEMS IN REMOTE SENSING OF THE EARTH FROM SPACE

  

Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2021, Vol. 18, No. 6, pp. 141-151

Relationship between order and width of valleys automatically found using a digital terrain model

A.A. Zlatopolsky 1 , V.A. Zaitsev 2 
1 Space Research Institute RAS, Moscow, Russia
2 Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Accepted: 30.11.2021
DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2021-18-6-141-151
It is proposed to continue the publication of the results of the study that estimates width of valleys of the same order. Three large regions Amur, Shilka and Kama (0.4 million km2 each) are used. Valley axes are detected from a digital terrain model (DTM) by standard GIS tools. The width of a valley (the local distance between the ridges bounding the valley) is determined using the LESSA (Lineament Extraction and Stripe Statistical Analysis) tool, which detects in DTM valleys with width greater than specified (stripes). The average width of the valleys of the order k is approximately estimated as 2k–1 km. This estimation was obtained both by comparing the orientation statistics of valleys and stripes and by directly comparing the lines of valleys and stripes on the Shilka region. Other ratios were obtained for this region: the number of valleys ~4.47–k, the average length of valleys ~2.15k. These patterns are maintained at least for the valleys of the first five orders and are close in meaning to the Horton relations, except that we consider a region rather than a separate river system and valley axes rather than existing streams. The possibility of LESSA statistical analysis of the valley lines detected in GIS is shown, which compliments the direct analysis of DTM in LESSA. The special scales of DTM analysis found earlier, at which the average direction of stripes sharply changes, now correlate with valleys of certain orders. The layout of the valleys of these orders may be associated with specific tectonic events.
Keywords: DTM, valley axis, valley order, valley width, Horton ratios, average direction of valleys axis
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