Basin and Landscape Dynamics (Badlands) is a parallel TIN-based landscape evolution model, built to simulate topography development at various space and time scales. The model is presently capable of simulating hillslope processes (linear diffusion), fluvial incision ('modified' Stream Power Law: erosion/transport/deposition), spatially and temporally varying geodynamic (horizontal + vertical displacements) and climatic forces which can be used to simulate changes in base level, as well as effects of climate changes or sea-level fluctuations.
The preferable way to use Badlands is to download the latest official release:
The latest Badlands version is the one that’s in our Git repository (our revision-control system). This is only for experienced users who want to try incoming changes and help identify bugs before an official release. Get it using this shell command, which requires Git:
git clone https://github.com/badlands-model/badlands.git
The model is mainly written in fortran and is based on the following characteristics:
- The finite volume approach from Tucker et al. (2001) based on the dual Delaunay-Voronoi framework is used to solve the continuity equation explicitly,
- Node ordering is perform efficiently based on the work from Braun & Willett (2013),
- A Hilbert Space-Filling Curve method algorithm (Zoltan) is used to partition the TIN-based surface into subdomains,
- Drainage network partitioning is generated through METIS library.
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.en.html.
The code is conceived as an open-source project, and is an ideal tool for both Research and Learning purposes.
Badlands is part of the suite of software developed by the EarthByte group.
Badlands is downloadable from the Community Surface Dynamic Modeling System wiki
If you come accross a bug or if you need some help compiling or using the code drop us a line.
A compilation of examples and some documentation related to the physics, assumptions and installation of Badlands can be found in the Badlands-doc repository
| Planar surface with single outlet | Delta evolution under sea-level fluctuations | Climatic forcing on drainage evolution |
|---|---|---|
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| execution 30s 2 CPUs | execution 240s 2 CPUs | execution 620s 2 CPUs |
| High-resolution depression filling model | 3D tectonic forcing and drainage evolution | Landscape evolution over continental scale |
|---|---|---|
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| execution 1h 2 CPUs | execution 22h 32 CPUs | execution 4h 16 CPUs |
Some documentation related to the physics & assumptions of the model can be found in:
- Salles, T. & Hardiman, L.: Badlands: An open-source, flexible and parallel framework to study landscape dynamics, Computers & Geosciences, 91, 77-89, doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2016.03.011, 2016.
- Salles, T.: Badlands: A parallel basin and landscape dynamics model, SoftwareX, 5, 195–202, doi:10.1016/j.softx.2016.08.005, 2016.
Published work using the code:
- Salles, T., N. Flament, and D. Muller: Influence of mantle flow on the drainage of eastern Australia since the Jurassic Period, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 18, doi:10.1002/2016GC006617, 2017.
When you use Badlands, please cite the above papers.