WEEK 1: INTRO & HISTORIANS

Geomorphology

Study of the shape of Earth’s surfacee/landforms.

Source to Sink Perspective

Creation of materials that onset geomorphic processes and where those materials go.

Physiographic Provinces

Areas with similar geographic processes that produce similar landforms, as well as similar tectonic origin and climate.

Mass Conservation

Differences between inputs and outputs. (I - O = deltaS).

Inputs include:

Precipitation, Tectonic Uplift

Outputs include:

Stream flow, Evaporation, Erosion, Landslides

Energy Conservation

Potential Energy converts to Kinetic Energy (Landslides)

Force Balance

Driving and resisting forces equally acting on something. (Ex: Boulder balancing on a hill)

Driving Forces

Gravity, wind

Resisting Forces

Slope terrain, Friction

Thresholds

Point in which further change in conditions causes a major change in landscape. Can change steady states (Deforestation can cause increase in fluvial sediment flux).

Steady State

landscape oscillates around a mean condition. (Mountain erosion over 1000s of years, Fluvial sediment flux)

Magnitude Frequency Relationship

Larger magnitude events happen less frequently than smaller magnitude events.

Herodotus (484-430 BCE)

First “historian”, estimated Nile River growth rates, observed silt deposition

Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

Proposed silt deposited by rivers would will seas and flood land

Nicholas Steno (1638-1686)

Proposed laws od superposition, and modern topography

Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

Proposed uniformitarianism

Mary Somerville (1780-1872)

Wrote “The Connection of the Physical Sciences and Physical Geography”, emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of science.

G.K. Gilbert

Published “Geology of the Henry Mountains”, studied how erosional processes shape modern geologic features.

William Morris Davis

Proposed the cycle of erosion:

Marie Curie

Developed theory of radioactivity

Plate Tectonics (as a concept)

Arose and pointed answers to how mountains form.

Baynold and Leopold

Applied physics and engineering framework into geomorphology.