Structure line

As a structure contours area curves are referred to, can be divided by the one surfaces by such criteria as shape, color, structure or material. The word part line comes from the common floor plan representation, in which surface curves appear as lines or plane curves.

In technology , structural lines u. a. Use in mechanical engineering , for example as shape, profile and streamlines on automobiles, wings or propellers, as keel lines on watercraft, as support lines for the statics of arches, as edges on workpieces, as joints or welds .

In the geosciences , structural lines are particularly important for structuring the terrain . When mapping the terrain, geodesists and topographers extract from terrestrial measurements , through cartometry and from aerial photographs

on the one hand, distinctive low and high points (especially valley points , saddle and summit points ),
on the other hand, shape lines (especially along mountain ridges and bodies of water ) and terrain edges
and in between precise contour lines (layer lines ) of the terrain.

The geomorphology differs along similar lines:

Ribbed lines (soft edges, shape lines) and break lines (hard edges). The ridge lines include the back lines (which usually represent watersheds) and the troughs or valley lines that function as water collectors. In the high mountains the ridges become ridge lines .
A break line is a "kink" in the terrain . The gradient changes abruptly at it and the distance between the contour lines changes on the map . The most distinctive shape is the demolition edge , which can run almost vertically. In the map image, the contour lines move closely together and usually merge into a steep slope below .
The height and shape lines are checked and supplemented with fall lines. These lines of the greatest gradient are at right angles to the contour lines.

Further structural lines can arise

due to different vegetation and so-called cultural boundaries , such as agricultural areas, forests, alpine meadows and wasteland

by changes in the type of soil

due to geological disturbances and differences in the rock , with a close connection with the geomorphological structural lines.