What Is in a Pebble Shape?

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Penn collection
Department of Physics Papers
Degree type
Discipline
Subject
Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Physics
Funder
Grant number
License
Copyright date
Distributor
Related resources
Author
Bideaud, H.
Duringer, P.
Schröder, A.
Thalmann, F.
Marques, C. M.
Contributor
Abstract

We propose to characterize the shapes of flat pebbles in terms of the statistical distribution of curvatures measured along the pebble contour. This is demonstrated for the erosion of clay pebbles in a controlled laboratory apparatus. Photographs at various stages of erosion are analyzed, and compared with two models. We find that the curvature distribution complements the usual measurement of aspect ratio, and connects naturally to erosion processes that are typically faster at protruding regions of high curvature.

Advisor
Date Range for Data Collection (Start Date)
Date Range for Data Collection (End Date)
Digital Object Identifier
Series name and number
Publication date
2006-07-13
Journal title
Volume number
Issue number
Publisher
Publisher DOI
Journal Issue
Comments
Suggested Citation: Durian, D.J. et al. (2006). What Is in a Pebble Shape? Physical Review Letters 97, 028001. © 2006 American Physical Society http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.028001
Recommended citation
Collection