Although this paper is concerned with talus slopes, its main objectives are methodological. First, it demonstrates that the log-log plot of number of steps against steplength is an insensitive means of detecting departures from self-similarity
. Second, it stresses the need for geomorphologists to employ more rigorous tests of self-similarity before they adopt a single value of fractal dimension to quantify the roughness of a geomorphic feature over any range of scale. Finally, it suggests
the possibility that even where geomorphic phenomena are not self-similar, modified fractal techniques may still be used to quantify their roughness or complexity.
Andrle and Abrahams (1989) present the results of a rigourous test of self-similarity on profiles and transects obtained from talus slopes. The aim of their paper is to show that the self-similar fractal model (SSFM) is of limited usefulness