Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Karkevagge drainage basin was running water bearing
material in solution. An increasing number of hillslopes
and drainage basins have been instrumented, that is, had
measuring devices installed to record a range of geo-
morphic processes. The instruments used on hillslopes
and in geomorphology generally are explained in sev-
eral topics (e.g. Goudie 1994). Interestingly, some of
the instrumented catchments established in the 1960s
have recently received unexpected attention from scien-
tists studying global warming, because records lasting
decades in climatically sensitive areas - high latitudes
and high altitudes - are invaluable. However, after half
a century of intensive field measurements, some areas,
including Europe and North America, still have better
coverage than other areas. And field measurement pro-
grammes should ideally be ongoing and work on as fine
a resolution as practicable, because rates measured at a
particular place may vary through time and may not be
representative of nearby places.
systems and climate that are forged through the stor-
ages and movements of energy, water, biogeochemicals,
and sediments. Longer-term and broader-scale intercon-
nections between landforms and climate, water budgets,
vegetation cover, tectonics, and human activity are a focus
for process geomorphologists who take a historical per-
spective and investigate the causes and effects of changing
processes regimes during the Quaternary.
Applied geomorphology
Applied geomorphology studies the interactions of
humans with landscapes and landforms. Process geomor-
phologists, armed with their models, have contributed
to the investigation of worrying problems associated
with the human impacts on landscapes. They have stud-
ied coastal erosion and beach management (e.g. Bird
1996; Viles and Spencer 1996), soil erosion, the weath-
ering of buildings, landslide protection, river manage-
ment and river channel restoration (e.g. Brookes and
Shields 1996), and the planning and design of landfill
sites (e.g. Gray 1993). Other process geomorphologists
have tackled general applied issues.
Geomorphology in
Environmental Planning
(Hooke 1988), for example,
considered the interaction between geomorphology and
public policies, with contributions on rural land-use
and soil erosion, urban land-use, slope management,
river management, coastal management, and policy
formulation.
Geomorphology in Environmental Manage-
ment
(Cooke 1990), as its title suggests, looked at the
role played by geomorphology in management aspects of
the environment.
Geomorphology and Land Management
in a Changing Environment
(McGregor and Thompson
1995) focused upon problems of managing land against
a background of environmental change. The conserva-
tion of ancient and modern landforms is an expanding
aspect of applied geomorphology.
Three aspects of applied geomorphology have been
brought into a sharp focus by the impending envi-
ronmental change associated with global warming
(Slaymaker 2000b) and illustrate the value of geomor-
phological know-how. First, applied geomorphologists
are ideally placed to work on the mitigation of natural
hazards of geomorphic origin, which may well increase in
magnitude and frequency during the twenty-first century
Modelling geomorphic processes
Since the 1960s and 1970s, process studies have been
largely directed towards the construction of models for
predicting short-term changes in landforms, that is,
changes happening over human timescales. Such models
have drawn heavily on soil engineering, for example in the
case of slope stability, and hydraulic engineering in the
cases of flow and sediment entrainment and deposition
in rivers. Nonetheless, some geomorphologists, includ-
ing Michael J. Kirkby and Jonathan D. Phillips, have
carved out a niche for themselves in the modelling depart-
ment. An example of a geomorphic model is shown in
Figure 1.5 (see also p. 22).
Process studies and global environmental
change
With the current craze for taking a global view, pro-
cess geomorphology has found natural links with other
Earth and life sciences. Main thrusts of research inves-
tigate (1) energy and mass fluxes and (2) the response
of landforms to climate, hydrology, tectonics, and land
use (Slaymaker 2000b, 5). The focus on mass and energy
fluxes explores the short-term links between land-surface
