Geography and the Properties of Surfaces. The Hexagon as a Spatial Average.
Abstract
The paper demonstrates that river basin areas and central place market areas tend to be hexagonal. River basins are bounded by ridge lines which meet three at a corner. Few ridge lines cannot define a corner, and more ridge lines are improbable. The nomenclature of river basins following Warntz (1968) and Schumm (1956) is extended. Market areas also must have three-edge corners. Graustein (1932) showed that large networks with three-edged corners must tend to have six sides per polygon, a relation that follows from Euler's law. The most if not all commonly occurring natural networks have three-edged corners, the polygons tend to be hexagons. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 15, 1970
- Accession Number
- AD0722022
Entities
People
- Michael J. Woldenberg
Organizations
- Harvard University