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Geomorphology

Rivers split as mountains grow

Mountain landscapes are shaped by tectonics and climate. A series of laboratory experiments has documented a mechanism by which mountain river networks split as the geometry of a mountain evolves in response to an orographic precipitation gradient.

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Figure 1: Drainage splitting.

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Attal, M. Rivers split as mountains grow. Nature Geosci 2, 747–748 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo675

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