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Channel

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

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Definition

An open conduit through which some fluid has moved (Sharp and Malin 1975). On Earth, a channel is defined as “the hollow bed where a natural body of surface water flows or may flow. The deepest or central part of the bed of a stream, containing the main current and occupied more or less continuously by water” (NSSH 2008).

Related Terms

Valley, Channel-belt deposit, Macrochannel, Inner channel

Description and Terminology

Channel

On Earth, the term “channel” refers to the bed and bank of a stream, usually lying at the bottom of a gully, canyon, or valley (Sharp and Malin 1975), but it is also applied to lava channels and submarine channels.

On Mars, it has come to mean any elongate narrow depression of linear, curvilinear, sinuous, or irregular configuration, created by external processes, typically erosion (Sharp and Malin 1975). However, the application of the term “channel” to any linear negative landforms of Mars is inappropriate in terms of strict terminology (Sharp and...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Planetologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany

    Gino Erkeling

  2. Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Esther Stouthamer

  3. NASA Ames Research Center/NPP, Moffett Field, CA, 94035, USA

    Henrik Hargitai

  4. Department of Environment and Geography, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, 2109, NSW, Australia

    Kirstie Fryirs

Authors
  1. Gino Erkeling
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  2. Esther Stouthamer
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  3. Henrik Hargitai
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  4. Kirstie Fryirs
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gino Erkeling .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Ames Research Center/NPP, Moffett Field, CA, USA

    Henrik Hargitai

  2. Konkoly Thege Miklos Astronomical Institute, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

    Ákos Kereszturi

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Erkeling, G., Stouthamer, E., Hargitai, H., Fryirs, K. (2015). Channel. In: Hargitai, H., Kereszturi, Á. (eds) Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_42

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