Sinuosity and fractal dimension of Chilean rivers

Abstract

River’s sinuosity is a characteristic pattern of rivers around the world that can be interpreted as a sign of the hydro-sedimentological instability of these systems. Such instability leads to the formation of meanders whose distribution is far from being an aleatory process reproducing a self-organized dynamic that can be described using fractals, settling a connection poorly explored up to date. The present study aims to contribute to this topic by measuring for the first time the meandering fractal dimension ( ) of seven Chilean rivers distributed from north to south of Chile. This dimension takes values close to unity in agreement with the morphological patterns observed in the rivers, suggesting that this parameter can be a helpful indicator to characterize the geometry of complex hydrographic systems.