A classification of the relative hierarchy of stream segments in a drainage network. stream piracy (stream capture) The natural diversion of the headwaters of one stream into the channel of another stream that has greater erosional activity and flows at a lower level.

a measure of stream size and branching, from first order streams (the largest) to twelfth.

classification of streams within a drainage basin so that it can be compared with another. Different methods have been proposed with Strahler being most common. From a source to a confluence, a strea [..]

A hydrologic system of stream classification. Each small unbranched tributary is a first-order* stream. Two first-order streams join to make a second-order stream. A third order stream has only first- [..]

The hierarchical number of a stream segment in dendritic drainage - the smallest tributary streams have order one and at each junction of streams of equal order the order of the subsequent segment is one higher.

The hierarchical ordering of streams based on the degree of branching.  A first-order stream is an unbranched stream (hence, a very small stream).  Higher order streams (larger numbers/bigger streams) [..]

A first-order stream is the unbranched section of a river or stream. The tributary initiated by the confluence of two first-order streams is the second-order stream and so on (Strahler system).

  describes the position of a stream in a drainage network, the lower the number the smaller the stream and its catchment.