Fractal, self-organization and its physical mechanism of river networks

This paper briefly introduces and reviews the achievements of fractal and self-organization of river networks,points out existing questions in the articles and possible improvement ways at the same time,discusses the physical mechanism of production and evolution of the self-organized fractal structure of river networks from the viewpoint of internal and external force of the earth as well as the opening property,the nonlinear property,the stochastic property and the dissipative property of the river network system,and proposes the further study projects in the field of basin erosion and ecosystem restoring,flow production and flow together of the basin,sediment production and transport,the evolution of the riverbed form and so on.