1968/06/01 by JERRY E. MUELLER, Jerry E. Mueller · 379 citations
Environmental Science · #Cartography #Channel (broadcasting) #Computer science #Erosion #Floodplain #Geography #Geology #Geomorphology #Geotechnical engineering #Groundwater and Watershed Analysis #Hydrology (agriculture) #Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes #Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies #STREAMS #Sinuosity
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1968.tb00650.x
published in Annals of the Association of American Geographers 58(2), 371-385 (American Association of Geographers)
openalex publication_date 1968/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Stream sinuosity indexes are usually derived by dividing the length of a reach as measured along a channel by the length of a reach as measured along a valley. This method restricts stream sinuosity to those rivers which have downcut sufficiently to allow the formation of a floodplain. Therefore, all stream-occupied valleys in the youthful stage of erosion cannot provide a sinuosity value greater than unity, for during youth the valley and channel are coincident. It is an inherent flaw in existing indexes which suggests that all streams with a value of unity are straight, because in nature all streams have significant departures from a straight-line course and, hence, possess some degree of sinuosity. Consequently, one must assume that factors other than those which are purely hydraulic or lithologic must contribute to the sinuosity of all channels. These neglected factors are those which are topographic in origin. With this in mind, the author offers a set of indexes which takes into account both hydraulic and topographic sinuosity and which also is applicable to all streams in all portions of the cycle of erosion.