CRITICAL DISTANCE

CRITICAL DISTANCE AND CRITICAL POINT

In the second case, consider the classic definition in the HORTON model of "CRITICAL DISTANCE" (Xc), which, within a generic hydrographic basin, is understood as the distance from a watershed divide at which EROSIVE processes begin to manifest due to suitable conditions reached by the surface runoff.

The HORTONIAN model explicitly speaks of suitable energy conditions that give the water the ability to erode the substrate.

In a summary graphical solution that includes the HYPSOMETRIC CURVE, this distance can be expressed as a POINT defined along the hypsometric curve and described by the hypsometric coordinates: (ac​;hc​).

The result is an indicative average position, yet it is useful for the purposes of this work.