Abstract
The study of tree-like networks has revealed some important insights into the spatial organization of geographic surfaces. Research has focused upon network topology, attempting to describe and explain the pattern or arrangement of branch elements that connect into a network. Network topology has also provided a convenient framework for storage of other measurements on surface geometric properties. This paper will examine the tree-like networks of river channels and ridges that may be used to characterize the topographic surface of fluvially-eroded terrain. Some of this work developed in economic geography, modeling spatial flows over potential surfaces (Wamtz, 1966); and some aspects can be related to a theory of generalized geographic surface networks (Pfaltz, 1976). Topologic analyses of tree-like networks have found applications to spatial systems outside geography: including botanical networks of plant stems and roots (Thornley, 1977), physiological branching systems of bronchial airways and neural Purkinje cells (Hollingworth and Berry, 1975; Horsfield et al., 1971), and various engineering situations dealing with fluid flow through porous media (Liao and Scheidegger, 1969). Non-spatial applications include the study of evolutionary trees (Harding, 1971).
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© 1984 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Jarvis, R.S. (1984). Topology of Tree-Like Networks. In: Gaile, G.L., Willmott, C.J. (eds) Spatial Statistics and Models. Theory and Decision Library, vol 40. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3048-8_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3048-8_15
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