Geomorphology - 1 Flashcards
What is geomorphology
An ancient discipline
What is Aristotle’s idea
Idea of changing places land and sea
18th and 19th Century believed …
In the instantaneous creation of Earth and its features
Playfair
1802
1802
Playfair
Playfair, 1802
Landforms shaped by slow continuous flow of water eroding land
Uniformitarianism
Lyell
1830
1830
Lyell
Lyell, 1830
Principles of geology
Berhadi
1832
Bernhadi, 1832
First evidence of glaciation
Darwin
Social, economic and hillslope evolution
Idea that things evolve over time
William Morris Davis
1889
Davis, 1889
Created the geographical cycle
- youth, maturity, old, peneplain
Approach refined over the next 50 year’s
Doesn’t involve the concept of climate change
Powell
1875
Powell, 1875
Created the concept of base level, the lowest elevation at which a stream can erode
Gilbert
1877
Gilbert, 1877
Developed the description of weathering and erosion
Identified steady state model and concept of equilibrium
1941
Bagnold
Bagnold, 1941
Developed equations used for the physics of landscapes
Sediment transportation
Horton
1945
Horton, 1945
Horntons law - stream orders and channels
Hydro physical approach to morphology
Strahler
1952
Strahler, 1952
Dynamics basis of geomorphology
1964
Leopold
Leopold, 1964
Fluvial processes in geomorphology
Process - response approach
Explains functional relationships between geomorphical processes and landforms
Gilbert, 1950
Hack, 1975
Dynamic equilibrium model
Idea that landscape always adjusts
Legacy of process - response approach has been largely to:
3 points
1) build up a database of process observations and rates
2) develop simple models for predictions of short term changes
3) generate ideas about stability and instability in geomorphic systems
Before 1950s
Historical approaches
- just a narrative
Present is the key to the past
Post 1950s
Development process of geomorphology
Understanding of times and scales
Tooth
2009
No current successful promotion of geomorphology
Ipcc, 2007 missed valuable links between geomorphic and climate change
Increased links with applied sciences = policy and planning
E.g. slope failure and engineers
Church
2010
Development in understanding is influential in reorientation of geomorphical timescales e.g absolute dating methods
Need to construct law other theories of sediment fluxes on timescales
Cosmogenic isotopes date time, exposure, weathering and residence times of sediments
Orme
2013
Idea that climate change needs to be incorporated into the Davison cycle, identifying related changes
Importance in understanding how fluvial systems and erosion are affected, in underpinning the Davison model and reduction to peneplain
