Badlands incised intoshale at the foot of the North Caineville Plateau, Utah, within the pass carved by theFremont River and known as the Blue Gate.G. K. Gilbert studied the landscapes of this area in great detail, forming the observational foundation for many of his studies on geomorphology.[1]Surface of Earth, showing higher elevations in red
Earth's surface is modified by a combination of surface processes that shape landscapes, and geologic processes that causetectonic uplift andsubsidence, and shape thecoastal geography. Surface processes comprise the action of water, wind, ice,wildfire, and life on the surface of the Earth, along with chemical reactions that formsoils and alter material properties, the stability and rate of change oftopography under the force ofgravity, and other factors, such as (in the very recent past) human alteration of the landscape. Many of these factors are strongly mediated byclimate. Geologic processes include the uplift ofmountain ranges, the growth ofvolcanoes,isostatic changes in land surface elevation (sometimes in response to surface processes), and the formation of deepsedimentary basins where the surface of the Earth drops and is filled with materialeroded from other parts of the landscape. The Earth's surface and its topography therefore are an intersection ofclimatic,hydrologic, andbiologic action with geologic processes, or alternatively stated, the intersection of the Earth'slithosphere with itshydrosphere,atmosphere, andbiosphere.
The broad-scale topographies of the Earth illustrate this intersection of surface and subsurface action. Mountain belts areuplifted due to geologic processes.Denudation of these high uplifted regions producessediment that is transported anddeposited elsewhere within the landscape or off the coast.[3] On progressively smaller scales, similar ideas apply, where individual landforms evolve in response to the balance of additive processes (uplift and deposition) and subtractive processes (subsidence anderosion). Often, these processes directly affect each other: ice sheets, water, and sediment are all loads that change topography throughflexural isostasy. Topography can modify the local climate, for example throughorographic precipitation, which in turn modifies the topography by changing the hydrologic regime in which it evolves. Many geomorphologists are particularly interested in the potential forfeedbacks between climate andtectonics, mediated by geomorphic processes.[4]
In addition to these broad-scale questions, geomorphologists address issues that are more specific or more local. Glacial geomorphologists investigate glacial deposits such asmoraines,eskers, and proglaciallakes, as well asglacial erosional features, to build chronologies of both smallglaciers and largeice sheets and understand their motions and effects upon the landscape.Fluvial geomorphologists focus onrivers, how theytransport sediment,migrate across the landscape,cut into bedrock, respond to environmental and tectonic changes, and interact with humans. Soils geomorphologists investigate soil profiles and chemistry to learn about the history of a particular landscape and understand how climate, biota, and rock interact. Other geomorphologists study howhillslopes form and change. Still others investigate the relationships betweenecology and geomorphology. Because geomorphology is defined to comprise everything related to the surface of the Earth and its modification, it is a broad field with many facets.
Geomorphologists use a wide range of techniques in their work. These may include fieldwork and field data collection, the interpretation of remotely sensed data, geochemical analyses, and the numerical modelling of the physics of landscapes. Geomorphologists may rely ongeochronology, using dating methods to measure the rate of changes to the surface.[5][6] Terrain measurement techniques are vital to quantitatively describe the form of the Earth's surface, and includedifferential GPS, remotely senseddigital terrain models andlaser scanning, to quantify, study, and to generate illustrations and maps.[7]
Planetary geomorphology studies landforms on other terrestrial planets such as Mars. Indications of effects ofwind,fluvial,glacial,mass wasting,meteor impact,tectonics andvolcanic processes are studied.[8] This effort not only helps better understand the geologic and atmospheric history of those planets but also extends geomorphological study of the Earth. Planetary geomorphologists often useEarth analogues to aid in their study of surfaces of other planets.[9]
"Cono de Arita" at the dry lakeSalar de Arizaro on theAtacama Plateau, in northwesternArgentina. The cone itself is a volcanic edifice, representing complex interaction of intrusive igneous rocks with the surrounding salt.[10]Lake "Veľké Hincovo pleso" inHigh Tatras,Slovakia. The lake occupies an "overdeepening" carved by flowing ice that once occupied this glacial valley.
Other than some notable exceptions in antiquity, geomorphology is a relatively young science, growing along with interest in other aspects of theearth sciences in the mid-19th century. This section provides a very brief outline of some of the major figures and events in its development.
Another early theory of geomorphology was devised bySong dynastyChinese scientist and statesmanShen Kuo (1031–1095). This was based onhis observation ofmarinefossil shells in ageological stratum of a mountain hundreds of miles from thePacific Ocean. Noticingbivalve shells running in a horizontal span along the cut section of a cliffside, he theorized that the cliff was once the pre-historic location of a seashore that had shifted hundreds of miles over the centuries. He inferred that the land was reshaped and formed bysoil erosion of the mountains and by deposition ofsilt, after observing strange natural erosions of theTaihang Mountains and theYandang Mountain nearWenzhou.[16][17][18] Furthermore, he promoted the theory of gradualclimate change over centuries of time once ancientpetrifiedbamboos were found to be preserved underground in the dry, northern climate zone ofYanzhou, which is now modern dayYan'an,Shaanxi province.[17][19][20] PreviousChinese authors also presented ideas about changing landforms.Scholar-officialDu Yu (222–285) of theWestern Jin dynasty predicted that two monumental stelae recording his achievements, one buried at the foot of a mountain and the other erected at the top, would eventually change their relative positions over time as would hills and valleys.[13]Daoist alchemistGe Hong (284–364) created a fictional dialogue where theimmortal Magu explained that the territory of theEast China Sea was once a land filled withmulberry trees.[21]
The term geomorphology seems to have been first used byLaumann in an 1858 work written in German. Keith Tinkler has suggested that the word came into general use in English, German and French afterJohn Wesley Powell andW. J. McGee used it during the International Geological Conference of 1891.[22]John Edward Marr in his The Scientific Study of Scenery[23] considered his book as, 'an Introductory Treatise on Geomorphology, a subject which has sprung from the union of Geology and Geography'.
An early popular geomorphic model was thegeographical cycle orcycle of erosion model of broad-scale landscape evolution developed byWilliam Morris Davis between 1884 and 1899.[11] It was an elaboration of theuniformitarianism theory that had first been proposed byJames Hutton (1726–1797).[24] With regard tovalley forms, for example, uniformitarianism posited a sequence in which a river runs through a flat terrain, gradually carving an increasingly deep valley, until theside valleys eventually erode, flattening the terrain again, though at a lower elevation. It was thought thattectonic uplift could then start the cycle over. In the decades following Davis's development of this idea, many of those studying geomorphology sought to fit their findings into this framework, known today as "Davisian".[24] Davis's ideas are of historical importance, but have been largely superseded today, mainly due to their lack of predictive power and qualitative nature.[24]
In the 1920s,Walther Penck developed an alternative model to Davis's.[24] Penck thought that landform evolution was better described as an alternation between ongoing processes of uplift and denudation, as opposed to Davis's model of a single uplift followed by decay.[25] He also emphasised that in many landscapes slope evolution occurs by backwearing of rocks, not by Davisian-style surface lowering, and his science tended to emphasise surface process over understanding in detail the surface history of a given locality. Penck was German, and during his lifetime his ideas were at times rejected vigorously by the English-speaking geomorphology community.[24] His early death, Davis' dislike for his work, and his at-times-confusing writing style likely all contributed to this rejection.[26]
Both Davis and Penck were trying to place the study of the evolution of the Earth's surface on a more generalized, globally relevant footing than it had been previously. In the early 19th century, authors – especially in Europe – had tended to attribute the form of landscapes to localclimate, and in particular to the specific effects ofglaciation andperiglacial processes. In contrast, both Davis and Penck were seeking to emphasize the importance of evolution of landscapes through time and the generality of the Earth's surface processes across different landscapes under different conditions.
During the early 1900s, the study of regional-scale geomorphology was termed "physiography".[27] Physiography later was considered to be a contraction of "physical" and "geography", and therefore synonymous withphysical geography, and the concept became embroiled in controversy surrounding the appropriate concerns of that discipline. Some geomorphologists held to a geological basis for physiography and emphasized a concept ofphysiographic regions while a conflicting trend among geographers was to equate physiography with "pure morphology", separated from its geological heritage.[citation needed] In the period following World War II, the emergence of process, climatic, and quantitative studies led to a preference by many earth scientists for the term "geomorphology" in order to suggest an analytical approach to landscapes rather than a descriptive one.[28]
During the age ofNew Imperialism in the late 19th century European explorers and scientists traveled across the globe bringing descriptions of landscapes and landforms. As geographical knowledge increased over time these observations were systematized in a search for regional patterns. Climate emerged thus as prime factor for explaining landform distribution at a grand scale. The rise of climatic geomorphology was foreshadowed by the work ofWladimir Köppen,Vasily Dokuchaev andAndreas Schimper.William Morris Davis, the leading geomorphologist of his time, recognized the role of climate by complementing his "normal" temperate climatecycle of erosion with arid and glacial ones.[29][30] Nevertheless, interest in climatic geomorphology was also a reactionagainstDavisian geomorphology that was by the mid-20th century considered both un-innovative and dubious.[30][31] Early climatic geomorphology developed primarily incontinental Europe while in the English-speaking world the tendency was not explicit until L.C. Peltier's 1950 publication on aperiglacial cycle of erosion.[29]
Climatic geomorphology was criticized in a 1969review article by process geomorphologistD.R. Stoddart.[30][32] The criticism by Stoddart proved "devastating" sparking a decline in the popularity of climatic geomorphology in the late 20th century.[30][32] Stoddart criticized climatic geomorphology for applying supposedly "trivial" methodologies in establishing landform differences between morphoclimatic zones, being linked toDavisian geomorphology and by allegedly neglecting the fact that physical laws governing processes are the same across the globe.[32] In addition some conceptions of climatic geomorphology, like that which holds that chemical weathering is more rapid in tropical climates than in cold climates proved to not be straightforwardly true.[30]
Part of theGreat Escarpment in theDrakensberg, southern Africa. This landscape, with its high altitudeplateau being incised into by the steep slopes of the escarpment, was cited by Davis as a classic example of hiscycle of erosion.[33]
In SwedenFilip Hjulström's doctoral thesis, "The River Fyris" (1935), contained one of the first quantitative studies of geomorphological processes ever published. His students followed in the same vein, making quantitative studies of mass transport (Anders Rapp), fluvial transport (Åke Sundborg), delta deposition (Valter Axelsson), and coastal processes (John O. Norrman). This developed into "theUppsala School ofPhysical Geography".[40]
Today, the field of geomorphology encompasses a very wide range of different approaches and interests.[11] Modern researchers aim to draw out quantitative "laws" that govern Earth surface processes, but equally, recognize the uniqueness of each landscape and environment in which these processes operate. Particularly important realizations in contemporary geomorphology include:
1) that not all landscapes can be considered as either "stable" or "perturbed", where this perturbed state is a temporary displacement away from some ideal target form. Instead, dynamic changes of the landscape are now seen as an essential part of their nature.[38][41]
2) that many geomorphic systems are best understood in terms of thestochasticity of the processes occurring in them, that is, the probability distributions of event magnitudes and return times.[42][43] This in turn has indicated the importance ofchaotic determinism to landscapes, and that landscape properties are best consideredstatistically.[44] The same processes in the same landscapes do not always lead to the same end results.
Albeit having its importance diminished,climatic geomorphology continues to exist as field of study producing relevant research. More recently concerns overglobal warming have led to a renewed interest in the field.[30]
Despite considerable criticism, thecycle of erosion model has remained part of the science of geomorphology.[46] The model or theory has never been proved wrong,[46] but neither has it been proven.[47] The inherent difficulties of the model have instead made geomorphological research to advance along other lines.[46] In contrast to its disputed status in geomorphology, the cycle of erosion model is a common approach used to establishdenudation chronologies, and is thus an important concept in the science ofhistorical geology.[48] While acknowledging its shortcomings, modern geomorphologistsAndrew Goudie andKarna Lidmar-Bergström have praised it for its elegance and pedagogical value respectively.[49][50]
Gorge cut by theIndus River into bedrock,Nanga Parbat region, Pakistan. This is the deepest river canyon in the world. Nanga Parbat itself, the world's 9th highest mountain, is seen in the background.
Aeolian processes pertain to the activity of thewinds and more specifically, to the winds' ability to shape the surface of theEarth. Winds may erode, transport, and deposit materials, and are effective agents in regions with sparsevegetation and a large supply of fine, unconsolidatedsediments. Although water and mass flow tend to mobilize more material than wind in most environments, aeolian processes are important in arid environments such asdeserts.[51]
Beaver dams, as this one inTierra del Fuego, constitute a specific form of zoogeomorphology, a type of biogeomorphology.
The interaction of living organisms with landforms, orbiogeomorphologic processes, can be of many different forms, and is probably of profound importance for the terrestrial geomorphic system as a whole. Biology can influence very many geomorphic processes, ranging frombiogeochemical processes controllingchemical weathering, to the influence of mechanical processes likeburrowing andtree throw on soil development, to even controlling global erosion rates through modulation of climate through carbon dioxide balance. Terrestrial landscapes in which the role of biology in mediating surface processes can be definitively excluded are extremely rare, but may hold important information for understanding the geomorphology of other planets, such asMars.[52]
Seif andbarchan dunes in theHellespontus region on the surface ofMars. Dunes are mobile landforms formed by the transport of large volumes of sand by wind.
Rivers and streams are not only conduits of water, but also ofsediment. The water, as it flows over the channel bed, is able to mobilize sediment and transport it downstream, either asbed load,suspended load ordissolved load. The rate of sediment transport depends on the availability of sediment itself and on the river'sdischarge.[53] Rivers are also capable of eroding into rock and forming new sediment, both from their own beds and also by coupling to the surrounding hillslopes. In this way, rivers are thought of as setting the base level for large-scale landscape evolution in nonglacial environments.[54][55] Rivers are key links in the connectivity of different landscape elements.
As rivers flow across the landscape, they generally increase in size, merging with other rivers. The network of rivers thus formed is adrainage system. These systems take on four general patterns: dendritic, radial, rectangular, and trellis. Dendritic happens to be the most common, occurring when the underlying stratum is stable (without faulting). Drainage systems have four primary components:drainage basin, alluvial valley, delta plain, and receiving basin. Some geomorphic examples of fluvial landforms arealluvial fans,oxbow lakes, andfluvial terraces.
Glaciers, while geographically restricted, are effective agents of landscape change. The gradual movement ofice down a valley causesabrasion andplucking of the underlyingrock. Abrasion produces fine sediment, termedglacial flour. The debris transported by the glacier, when the glacier recedes, is termed amoraine. Glacial erosion is responsible for U-shaped valleys, as opposed to the V-shaped valleys of fluvial origin.[56]
The way glacial processes interact with other landscape elements, particularly hillslope and fluvial processes, is an important aspect ofPlio-Pleistocene landscape evolution and its sedimentary record in many high mountain environments. Environments that have been relatively recently glaciated but are no longer may still show elevated landscape change rates compared to those that have never been glaciated. Nonglacial geomorphic processes which nevertheless have been conditioned by past glaciation are termedparaglacial processes. This concept contrasts withperiglacial processes, which are directly driven by formation or melting of ice or frost.[57]
Ongoing hillslope processes can change the topology of the hillslope surface, which in turn can change the rates of those processes. Hillslopes that steepen up to certain critical thresholds are capable of shedding extremely large volumes of material very quickly, making hillslope processes an extremely important element of landscapes in tectonically active areas.[58]
On the Earth, biological processes such asburrowing ortree throw may play important roles in setting the rates of some hillslope processes.[59]
Bothvolcanic (eruptive) andplutonic (intrusive) igneous processes can have important impacts on geomorphology. The action of volcanoes tends to rejuvenize landscapes, covering the old land surface withlava andtephra, releasingpyroclastic material and forcing rivers through new paths. The cones built by eruptions also build substantial new topography, which can be acted upon by other surface processes. Plutonic rocks intruding then solidifying at depth can cause both uplift or subsidence of the surface, depending on whether the new material is denser or less dense than the rock it displaces.
Tectonic effects on geomorphology can range from scales of millions of years to minutes or less. The effects of tectonics on landscape are heavily dependent on the nature of the underlyingbedrock fabric that more or less controls what kind of local morphology tectonics can shape.Earthquakes can, in terms of minutes, submerge large areas of land forming new wetlands.Isostatic rebound can account for significant changes over hundreds to thousands of years, and allows erosion of a mountain belt to promote further erosion as mass is removed from the chain and the belt uplifts. Long-term plate tectonic dynamics give rise toorogenic belts, large mountain chains with typical lifetimes of many tens of millions of years, which form focal points for high rates of fluvial and hillslope processes and thus long-term sediment production.
Features of deepermantle dynamics such asplumes anddelamination of the lower lithosphere have also been hypothesised to play important roles in the long term (> million year), large scale (thousands of km) evolution of the Earth's topography (seedynamic topography). Both can promote surface uplift through isostasy as hotter, less dense, mantle rocks displace cooler, denser, mantle rocks at depth in the Earth.[60][61]
Marine processes are those associated with the action of waves, marine currents and seepage of fluids through the seafloor.Mass wasting and submarinelandsliding are also important processes for some aspects of marine geomorphology.[62] Because ocean basins are the ultimate sinks for a large fraction of terrestrial sediments, depositional processes and their related forms (e.g., sediment fans,deltas) are particularly important as elements of marine geomorphology.
There is a considerable overlap between geomorphology and other fields. Deposition of material is extremely important insedimentology.Weathering is the chemical and physical disruption of earth materials in place on exposure to atmospheric or near surface agents, and is typically studied bysoil scientists and environmentalchemists, but is an essential component of geomorphology because it is what provides the material that can be moved in the first place.Civil andenvironmental engineers are concerned with erosion and sediment transport, especially related tocanals,slope stability (andnatural hazards),water quality, coastal environmental management, transport of contaminants, andstream restoration. Glaciers can cause extensive erosion and deposition in a short period of time, making them extremely important entities in the high latitudes and meaning that they set the conditions in the headwaters of mountain-born streams;glaciology therefore is important in geomorphology.
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