Abstract

Significance Our focus is on a rich interdisciplinary problem touching on earth science, hydrology, and statistical mechanics—an understanding of the statics and dynamics of the network structures that we observe in the fluvial landscape, and their relation to evolution and selection of recurrent patterns of self-organization. It is an exemplar of how diverse ideas, numerical simulation, and elementary mathematics can come together to help solve the mystery of understanding a ubiquitous pattern of nature.