美国加州大学圣巴巴拉分校Austin J. Chadwick团队近日研究了单线和多线河流起源于（不）横向侵蚀和增生之间的平衡。这一研究成果发表在2025年7月10日出版的《科学》杂志上。

为什么河道将水流限制在单一通道或将水流分成多个相互交织的通道（线），这是河流科学中一个长期存在的基本问题，迄今为止，人们对这个问题的理解仍然很少。

在这项研究中，研究组通过绘制36年全球卫星图像中84条河流的线程动态来探索通道模式的起源，这些图像以粒子图像测速为主题。结果表明，单螺纹通道起源于横向侵蚀和增生之间的平衡，这使得螺纹能够在保持平衡宽度的同时迁移。

相反，多线程通道源于不平衡侵蚀，其速度超过了单个线程的增长，导致线程反复变宽和分裂。线程宽度不平衡为地球和其他行星上的多线程通道如何发展提供了一个机制解释，并且在应用中可以帮助降低基于自然的河流恢复项目的成本。

附：英文原文

Title: Single- and multithread rivers originate from (im)balance between lateral erosion and accretion

Author: Austin J. Chadwick, Evan Greenberg, Vamsi Ganti

Issue&Volume: 2025-07-10

Abstract: Why river channels confine flow to a single pathway or divide flow into multiple interwoven pathways (threads) forms a long-standing fundamental question in river science, which to date remains poorly understood. In this study, we probed channel-pattern origins by mapping thread dynamics along 84 rivers from 36 years of global satellite imagery using particle image velocimetry. Results show that single-thread channels originate from a balance between lateral erosion and accretion, which enables a thread to migrate while maintaining equilibrium width. In contrast, multithread channels originate from imbalance—erosion outpaces accretion in individual threads, causing threads to repeatedly widen and split. Thread-width imbalance provides a mechanistic explanation for how multithread channels develop on Earth and other planets and, in application, can help lower the cost of nature-based river restoration projects.

DOI: ads6567

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads6567