Bifurcation Ratio Calculator

Calculate Bifurcation Ratio



Formula

The formula to calculate the Bifurcation Ratio (Rb) is:

\[ R_b = \frac{N_n}{N_{n+1}} \]

Where:

What is a Bifurcation Ratio?

The bifurcation ratio is a dimensionless number that describes the branching pattern of a river or stream network. It is calculated by dividing the number of streams of a given order by the number of streams of the next higher order. This ratio provides insight into the hierarchical structure and efficiency of the drainage network. A lower bifurcation ratio indicates a more branched network, while a higher ratio suggests a more linear or less branched network. Understanding the bifurcation ratio is important in hydrology and geomorphology for analyzing the behavior and characteristics of river systems.

Example Calculation

Consider an example where:

Using the formula to calculate the Bifurcation Ratio:

\[ R_b = \frac{12}{4} = 3 \]

This means that the bifurcation ratio for this network is 3, indicating that there are three times as many streams of order n compared to streams of order n+1.