Discreteness and continuity of the Earth's surface: geomorphological and topographic models

Abstract

Both topography and geomorphology study the surf ace of the Earth, and topographic and geomorphological models reflect two sides of the object- its continuity and discreteness. It manifests the transition from quantitative changes on the surface of the Earth to qualitative ones, which in turn reflects continuous and discrete character of lithodynamic flows. The geomorphological studies require reduction of the Earth surface to elementary units, the procedure being the basis of all subsequent data processing.