GEOG 205 Flashcards
what are the driving mechanisms of geomorphology?
Climate/atmosphere, tectonics, biotics, and gravity
What is catastrophism?
Georges Cuvier states changes are due to sudden, catastrophic, large-scale events
What is uniformitarianism?
James Hutton states changes are due to continuous, smaller-scale actions and processes
What is gradualism?
Charles Lyell states stuff happens over small steps over a long period of time
What is Jame’s Hutton’s key geological phrase about uniformitarianism?
“The present is the key to the past”
What is the Davis model?
The cycle of erosion, form-based, and a modern perspective
What are forms the result of?
Processes, driving forces, and setting
What type of system is earth?
Closed
What type of system is a river?
Open
What type of system is a lake?
Depends on what you’re looking at, for a fish it is closed, for a water molecule it is open
What type of system is the universe?
As far as we currently know, it is an isolated system
What is negative feedback and what is an example?
Discourages change in the system, acts to self-regulate the system, stabilizing it. An example is when deposition of coarse sediment takes place in a channel section, causing a decrease in river gradient and a decrease in erosion
What is positive feedback and what is an example?
encourages change in the system, snowball effect. An example is heavy rain causing lower infiltration rates, which results in runoff and soil erosion at the surface
What are some drivers of a changing landscape?
climate, gravity, internal heat and tectonics
What are some resisters of a changing landscape?
material/substrate, including lithology and rock type, vegetation, and structure (folds, faults, zones of weakness)
