Browse wiki
From CSDMS
Drainage divides, the topographic boundari … Drainage divides, the topographic boundaries of river basins, are dynamic landscape features. Asymmetric erosion rates across drainage divides can cause gradual divide migration and occasionally, the flow of water may be redirected towards a neighboring basin in via ‘river capture’. Geomorphologists often use topographic evidence to infer erosional disequilibrium across drainage divides. Similarly, freshwater biologists infer a history of river capture using biological lines of evidence including the presence of disjunct populations of freshwater organisms found on the ‘wrong’ side of the drainage divide and/or phylogenetic relationships that reflect paleo-river networks. Yet, these lines of evidence may be challenging to interpret when there is a history of multiple river capture events in the same basin that each cause transient erosional responses and repeatedly transfer freshwater organisms across the drainage divide. Here, I explore the topographic and biological signatures of repeated river captures using coupled population-genetic simulations and landscape evolution models. I also present an empirical case-study across the Eastern Continental Divide, USA. Population genetic analysis of the Saffron Shiner (Hydrophlox rubricoceus) and topographic evidence (knickpoints and windgaps) suggest that the Linville River (Atlantic-draining) has repeatedly captured area from the upper tributaries of the Tennessee River (Gulf-draining). The results highlight the challenges and promise of integrating biological and geologic datasets to investigate the history of river network reorganization.e history of river network reorganization. +
mfstokes@fsu.edu +
CSDMS 2026: Modeling Landscapes in Motion +
Florida State University +
Stokes +
Invited oral presentation +
Florida +
Topographic and biological signatures of repeated river captures +
United States +
Creation date"Creation date" is a predefined property that corresponds to the date of the first revision of a subject and is provided by <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="https://www.semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Special_properties">Semantic MediaWiki</a>.
17:08:51, 5 January 2026 +
Has query"Has query" is a predefined property that represents meta information (in form of a <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="https://www.semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Subobject">subobject</a>) about individual queries and is provided by <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="https://www.semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Special_properties">Semantic MediaWiki</a>.
Last editor is"Last editor is" is a predefined property that contains the page name of the user who created the last revision and is provided by <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="https://www.semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Special_properties">Semantic MediaWiki</a>.
Modification date"Modification date" is a predefined property that corresponds to the date of the last modification of a subject and is provided by <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="https://www.semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Special_properties">Semantic MediaWiki</a>.
17:08:51, 5 January 2026 +
