Complexity in natural landform patterns

Patterns in nature, such as meandering rivers and sand dunes, display complex behavior seemingly at odds with their simplicity of form. Existing approaches to modeling natural landform patterns, reductionism and universality, are incompatible with the nonlinear, open nature of natural systems. An alternative modeling methodology based on the tendency of natural systems to self-organize in temporal hierarchies is described. A river channel meanders in wide, sweeping loops through its floodplain. Sand dunes mantle vast expanses of arid regions with crescentic, linear, and star-shaped forms. Shorelines are molded into smooth arcuate bays interrupted by cuspate horns. Frozen soils throughout the Arctic are broken by a latticework of thermal contraction fractures filled with wedges of ice. A photographer’