ABSTRACT
Many geomorphologists may be aware that there are computer-based systems in use which are capable of simple, automatic interpretation of numerically coded terrain features. Of course, the encoding of terrain information, the rendering of it into digits, is a purely mechanical operation, and of little direct interest to geomorphologists. The information content of a macrostate is measured as the logarithm to the base two of the probability number of the macrostate. Messages, and their transmission from source to destination, may be analysed with provocative insight by a body of techniques known as information theory. By considering the terrain as a source for coded messages, these techniques and insights become available to the geomorphologist in his analysis of landforms and the processes which shape them. The statistical mechanical concepts have been transplanted by general systems theorists to other disciplines such as biology, ecology, sociology, geography and geomorphology.
