HR: 0830h
AN: NG31A-0596    [PDF]
TI: Dissipation, Entropy and Geomorphological structures
AU: * Lorenz, R D
EM: rlorenz@lpl.arizona.edu
AF: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona 1629 E. University Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85721 United States
AB: A wide variety of landforms can be viewed as dissipative structures. These persistent, organized structures (including river networks, sand dunes, sorted stone circles, etc.) exploit some driving energy source, whether potential energy in the case of hydrology, kinetic energy from wind, or heat flows into and out of the ground. It is instructive to compare the mechanical work required to construct these landforms with the energy available. A natural question is whether these structures seek some extremum, such as maximum dissipation or Maximum Entropy Production. Such principles appear to be supported by theoretical considerations, as well as the empirical observation of planetary climates. Dissipative properties of river networks have been extensively explored ; it has also been suggested that sand dunes may organize to maximize the sand transport normal to the dune crest, which is equivalent to maximizing frictional dissipation.
DE: 1625 Geomorphology and weathering (1824, 1886)
DE: 1848 Networks
DE: 1878 Water/energy interactions
DE: 3322 Land/atmosphere interactions
SC: Nonlinear Geophysics [NG]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting