Dear you can do it easily with using DEM on ArcMap software, then generate the TIN

regards

Mountainous and hilly landforms are first and foremost caused by gravity driven mass wasting and fluvial processes, overprinted in aridic regions by aeolian and polar/mountainous areas by cryogenic processes. A pathway of analyzing this terrain is given below with all its facets (slope angle, gradient, sinuosity of drainage system…), using DEM , GMS analyses (granulometry, morphology, situmetry), field studies. Terrain analyses for different climates and geodynamic setting are given below.

I prefer a semi-automated descriptive and numerical (geo/morphometric) approach with a strong component on one side in the field and on the other side in the lab.

For further reading :

DILL, H.G., and BUZATU, A. (2021) From the aeolian landform to the aeolian mineral deposit in the present and its use as an ore guide in the past. Constraints from mineralogy, chemistry and sediment petrography.- Ore Geology Reviews (on-line)

DILL, H.G., BALABAN, S.-I., BUZATU, A., BORNEMANN, A., and TECHMER, A. (2021) The Quaternary volcanogenic landscape and volcaniclastic sediments of the Netherlands Antilles - markers for an in-active volcanic arc.- International Journal of Earth Sciences (on-line)

DILL, H.G., BUZATU, A., and BALABAN, S.-I. (2021) Straight to Low-Sinuosity Drainage Systems in a Variscan-Type Orogen—Constraints from Tectonics, Lithology and Climate.- Minerals: 2021, 11, 933. https://doi.org/10.3390/min11090933, 58 pp. (open access)

DILL, H.G., BUZATU, A., and BALABAN S.-I. (2021) Coastal morphology and heavy mineral accumulation in an upper-macrotidal environment– A geological-mineralogical approach from source to trap site in a natural placer laboratory (Channel Islands, Great Britain).- Ore Geology Reviews 138: 104311

DILL, H.G., KUS J., BUZATU A., BALABAN S.-I. ,KAUFHOLD S., and BORREGO A. G. (2021) Organic debris and allochthonous coal in Quaternary landforms within a periglacial setting (Longyearbyen Mining District, Norway) - A multi-disciplinary study (coal geology-geomorphology-sedimentology).- International Journal of Coal Geology 233: 103625

DILL, H.G., BUZATU A., BALABAN S.-I. , UFER K., TECHMER A. SCHEDLINSKY, W., and FÜSSL M., (2020) The transition of very coarse-grained meandering to straight fluvial drainage systems in a tectonizedforeland-basement landscape during the Holocene (SE Germany) – A joint geomorphological-geological study.- Geomorphology 370: 107364.

DILL, H.G., BUZATU A., BALABAN S.-I. , UFER K., GÓMEZ TAPIAS J., BÎRGĂOANU D. and CRAMER T. (2020) The “badland trilogy” of the Desierto de la Tatacoa, Upper Magdalena Valley, Colombia, a result of geodynamics and climate: With a review of badland landscapes.- Catena 194: 1-20.

DILL H.G., BUZATU A., GOLDMANN S., KAUFHOLD S., and BÎRGĂOANU D. (2020) Coastal landforms of “Meso-Afro-American” and “Neo-American” landscapes in the periglacial South Atlantic Ocean: With special reference to the clast orientation, morphology, and granulometry of continental and marine sediments.- Journal of South American Earth Sciences 98: 102385

DILL, H.G. , KAUFHOLD, S., TECHMER, A. , BARITZ, R., and MOUSSADEK, R. (2019) A joint study in geomorphology, pedology and sedimentology of a Mesoeuropean landscape in the Mesetaand Atlas Foreland (NW Morocco). A function of parent lithology, geodynamics and climate.- Journal of African Earth Sciences 158: 103531

DILL, H.G., UFER, K., BORNEMANN, A., TECHMER, A. , and BUZATU, A. (2019) From the strand plain to the reef: A sedimentological–geomorphological study of a Holocene coast affected by mud diapirism (ArchipélagoRosario- Barú, Colombia).-Marine Geology 415: 105953

DILL, H.G. (2017) An overview of the pegmatitic landscape from the pole to the equator – Applied geomorphology and ore guides.- Ore Geology Reviews 91: 795 – 823.

DILL, H.G., KHISHIGSUREN, S., MAJIGSUREN, YO. , MYAGMARSUREN S. and BULGAMAA, J. (2006) Geomorphological studies along a transect from the taiga to the desert in Central Mongolia-Evolution of landforms in the mid-latitude continental interior as a function of climate and vegetation.- Journal for Asian Earth Sciences, 27: 241-264.

DILL H.G., LUDWIG R.-R., KATHEWERA A. and MWENELUPEMBE J. (2005) A lithofacies terrain model for the Blantyre Region: Implications for the interpretation of palaeosavanna depositional systems and for environmental geology and economic geology in southern Malawi.- Journal of African Earth Sciences, 41: 341-393.

DILL, H.G., KHAREL, B.D., SINGH, V.K., PIYA, B., BUSCH, K. and GEYH, M. (2001) Sedimentology and paleogeographic evolution of the intermontane Kathmandu Basin, Nepal, during the Pliocene and Quaternary. Implications for formation of deposits of economic interest.- Journal for Asian Earth Sciences, 19: 777-804.

You should find some answers to your question there

HGD

Hey Nand!

I suggest You very simple step-by-step method to identify river-lines or ridge-lines from a DEM:

1. Fill the DEM using the Fill tool in the Hydrology Toolset.

ArcTolbox - Spatial Analyst Tools - Hydrology - Fill

Input raster: dem

Output raster: fill

2. Switch the high/low values in the Fill DEM by using the

Raster Calculator to multiply the Fill DEM by -1.

ArcTolbox - Spatial Analyst Tools - Map Algebra - Raster Calculator

Input: "fill" * -1

Output raster: fill_1

3. Run the Flow Direction tool using the output raster from step 2

as the 'Input surface raster' and checking 'Force all edge cells to flow outward'.

ArcTolbox - Spatial Analyst Tools - Hydrology - Flow Direction

Input raster: fill_1

Output raster: flow

Force all edge cells to flow outward: (checked)

4. Run the Flow Accumulation tool using the output raster from step 3

as the 'Input flow direction raster'.

ArcTolbox - Spatial Analyst Tools - Hydrology - Flow Accumulation

Input flow direction raster: flow

Output accumulation raster: accu

Output Data Type: Integer

5. Set the Flow Accumulation threshold and create the stream network raster

using the Raster Calculator.

ArcTolbox - Spatial Analyst Tools - Map Algebra - Raster Calculator

Input: Con("accu", 1,0, "Value >= 100")

Output Raster: streamnet

6. Create a Stream Order raster using the stream network raster (step 5)

for the 'Input steam raster' and the Flow Direction raster (step 3)

for the 'Input flow direction raster'.

ArcTolbox - Spatial Analyst Tools - Hydrology - Stream Order

Input stream raster: streamnet

Input flow direction raster: flow

Output raster: streamord

Method: Strahler

7. Create a ridgeline shapefile by running the Stream to Feature tool

with the Stream Order raster as the 'Input stream raster'.

ArcTolbox - Spatial Analyst Tools - Hydrology - Stream to Feature

Input raster: streamord

Input flow direction raster: flow

Good luck!

Bart