Significant Topographic Changes in the United States
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Quantification of the Effects of Topographic Changes
The terrain parameters measured for each feature in the topographic change inventory are useful for describing the surface modifications at the specific locations of the polygons. However, in many cases the individual change polygons are members of a larger set that collectively represent a surface disturbance distributed over an area greater than that of any of the individual polygons. These groups of change polygons produce cumulative effects on the environment, and quantification of the effects of the changes must consider the numerous polygons together. The effects of changes over areas more broad than the scale of individual polygons are quantified below.