Analysis of geomorphological conditions for primary streams formation using digital elevation models

A key question of structural-hydrographic analysis of river systems is considered, namely: Is it possible to sufficiently rigorously determine the geomorphological situation that is responsible for the formation of the primary element of the hydrographic network? The objective of this study is to develop an optimal technique for automatic digitizing of the river network in terms of digital elevation models on the basis of searching for an optimal form of the index permitting a separate parameterization of the climatic and geomorphological conditions of the basins. A comparative testing is made of the use of the different variants of the index in the digitizing process as well as analyzing the “slope-area” relations for landscape-hydrological localities.