Abstract:

The extraction of continuous shoulder line of valley having precise location is the key technique to the construction of spatial distribution mechanism-course models such as soil erosion, sediment transportation and runoff course in gully area in the Loess Plateau. The extraction technique presented in this paper is a morphologically based method utilizing finite morphologic elements to define the topographical structure. In this paper, the authors present an algorithm by which the drainage network and the continuous shoulder line of valley is extracted automatically from the DEM of Wangjiagou in Lishi, Shanxi, which is located in gully area in the Loess Plateau, and the final result is in accordance with the real condition of the experiment area.