quoted from:https://csdms.colorado.edu/wiki/Model:Auto_marsh

The model reproduce the effect of a variability in soil resistance on salt marsh erosion by wind waves.

The model consists of a two-dimensional square lattice whose elements, i, have randomly distributed resistance, r_i. The critical soil height H_ci for boundary stability is calculated from soil shear strength values and is assumed as representative of soil resistance, as it is a convenient way to take into account general soil and ambient conditions. The erosion rate of each cell, E_i, which represents the erosion of an homogeneous marsh portion, is defined as: E_i=〖αP〗^β exp (-H_ci/H) Where α and β are non-dimensional constants set equal to 0.35 and 1.1 respectively, P is the wave power, and H is the mean wave height. The model follows three rules: i) only neighbors of previously eroded cells can be eroded. Therefore, only cells having at least one side in common with previously eroded elements are susceptible to erosion; ii) at every time step one element is eroded at random with probability p_i=E_i/(∑E_i ); iii) A cell is removed from the domain if it remains isolated from the rest of the boundary (no neighbors).