geomorphology

For more information on geomorphology, visit Britannica.com.

Concept

The surface of Earth is covered with various landforms, a number of which are discussed in various entries throughout this book. This essay is devoted to the study of landforms themselves, a subdiscipline of the geologic sciences known as geomorphology. The latter, as it has evolved since the end of the nineteenth century, has become an interdisciplinary study that draws on areas as diverse as plate tectonics, ecology, and meteorology. Geomorphology is concerned with the shaping of landforms, through such processes as subsidence and uplift, and with the classification and study of such landforms as mountains, volcanoes, and islands.

How It Works

An Evolving Area of Study

Geomorphology is an area of geology concerned with the study of landforms, with the forces and processes that have shaped them, and with the description and classification of various physical features on Earth. The term, which comes from the Greek words geo, or "Earth," and morph, meaning "form," was coined in 1893 by the American geologist William Morris Davis (1850-1934), who is considered the father of geomorphology.

During Davis's time, geomorphology was concerned primarily with classifying different structures on Earth's surface, examples of which include mountains and islands, discussed later in this essay. This view of geomorphology as an essentially descriptive, past-oriented area of study closely aligned with historical geology prevailed throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

By the mid-twentieth century, however, the concept of geomorphology inherited from Davis had fallen into disfavor, to be replaced by a paradigm, or model, oriented toward physical rather than historical geology. (These two principal branches of geology are concerned, in the first instance, with Earth's past and the processes that shaped it and, in the second instance, with Earth's current physical features and the processes that continue to shape it.)

Rethinking Geomorphology

As reconceived in the 1950s and thereafter, geomorphology became an increasingly exact science. As has been typical of many sciences in their infancy, early geomorphology focused on description rather than prediction and tended to approach its subject matter in a qualitative fashion. The term qualitative suggests a comparison between qualities that are not defined precisely, such as "fast" and "slow" or "warm" and "cold." On the other hand, a quantitative approach, as has been implemented for geomorphology from the mid-twentieth century onward, centers on a comparison between precise quantities—for instance, 10 lb. (4.5 kg) versus 100 lb. (45 kg) or 50 MPH (80.5 km/h) versus 120 MPH (193 km/h).

As part of its shift in focus, geomorphology began to treat Earth's physical features as systems made up of complex and ongoing interactions. This view fell into line with a general emphasis on the systems concept in the study of Earth. (See Earth Systems for more about the systems concept.) As geomorphology evolved, it became more interdisciplinary, as we shall see. This, too, was part of an overall trend in the earth sciences toward an approach that viewed subjects in broad, cross-disciplinary terms as opposed to a narrow focus on specific areas of study.

Landforms and Processes

Two concerns are foremost within the realm of geomorphology, and these concerns reflect the stages of its history. First, in line with Davis's original conception of geomorphology as an area of science devoted to classifying and describing natural features, there is its concern with topography. The latter may be defined as the configuration of Earth's surface, including its relief (elevation and other in equalities) as well as the position of physical features.

These physical features are called landforms, examples of which include mountains, plateaus, and valleys. Geomorphology always has involved classification, and early scientists working in this subdiscipline addressed the classification of landforms. Other systems of classification, however, are not so concerned with cataloging topographical features themselves as with differentiating the processes that shaped them. This brings us to the other area of interest in geomorphology: the study of how landforms came into being.

Shaping the Earth

Among the processes that drive the shaping of landforms is plate tectonics, or the shifting of large, movable segments of lithosphere (the crust and upper layer of Earth's mantle). Plate tectonics is discussed in detail within its own essay and more briefly in other areas throughout this book, as befits its status as one of the key areas of study in the earth sciences.

Other processes also shape landforms. Included among these processes are weathering, the breakdown of rocks and minerals at or near the surface of Earth due to physical or chemical processes; erosion, the movement of soil and rock due to forces produced by water, wind, glaciers, gravity, and other influences; and mass wasting or mass movement, the transfer of earth material, by processes that include flow, slide, fall, and creep, down slopes. Also of interest are fluvial and eolian processes (those that result from water flow and wind, respectively) as well as others related to glaciers and coastal formations.

Human activity also can play a significant role in shaping Earth. This effect may be direct, as when the construction of cities, the building of dams, or the excavation of mines alters the landscape. On the other hand, it can be indirect. In the latter instance, human activity in the biosphere exerts an impact, as when the clearing of forest land or the misuse of crop land results in the formation of a dust bowl.

Interdisciplinary Studies

As noted earlier, geomorphology is characteristic of the earth sciences as a whole in its emphasis on an interdisciplinary approach. As is true of earth scientists in general, those studying landforms and the processes that shape them do not work simply in one specialty. Among the areas of interest in geomorphology are, for example, deep-sea geomorphology, which draws on oceanography, and planetary geomorphology, the study of landscapes on other planets.

When studying coastal geomorphology, a geologist may draw on realms as diverse as fluid mechanics (an area of physics that studies the behavior of gases and liquids at rest and in motion) and sedimentology. The investigation of such processes as erosion and mass wasting calls on knowledge in the atmospheric sciences as well as the physics and chemistry of soil. It is almost inevitable that a geomorphologic researcher will draw on geophysics as well as on such subspecialties as volcanology. These studies may go beyond the "hard sciences," bringing in such social sciences as geography.

Real-Life Applications

Subsidence

Subsidence refers to the process of subsiding (settling or descending), on the part of either an air column or the solid earth, or, in the case of solid earth, to the resulting formation or depression. Subsidence in the atmosphere is discussed briefly in the entry Convection. Subsidence that occurs in the solid earth, known as geologic subsidence, is the settling or sinking by a body of rock or sediment. (The latter can be defined as material deposited at or near Earth's surface from a number of sources, most notably preexisting rock.)

As noted earlier, many geomorphologic processes can be caused either by nature or by human beings. An example of natural subsidence takes place in the aftermath of an earthquake, during which large areas of solid earth may simply drop by several feet. Another example can be observed at the top of a volcano some time after it has erupted, when it has expelled much of its material (i.e., magma) and, as a result, has collapsed.

Natural subsidence also may result from cave formation in places where underground water has worn away limestone. If the water erodes too much limestone, the ceiling of the cave will subside, usually forming a sinkhole at the surface. The sinkhole may fill with water, making a lake; the formation of such sinkholes in many spots throughout an area (whether the sinkholes become lakes or not), is known as karst topography.

In places where the bedrock is limestone—particularly in the sedimentary basins of rivers—karst topography is likely to develop. The United States contains the most extensive karst region in the world, including the Mammoth cave system in Kentucky. Karst topography is very pronounced in the hills of southern China, and karst landscapes have been a prominent feature of Chinese art for centuries. Other extensive karst regions can be found in southern France, Central America, Turkey, Ireland, and England.

Man-Made Subsidence

Man-made subsidence often ensues from the removal of groundwater or fossil fuels, such as petroleum or coal. Groundwater removal can be perfectly safe, assuming the area experiences sufficient rainfall to replace, or recharge, the lost water. If recharging does not occur in the necessary proportions, however, the result will be the eventual collapse of the aquifer, a layer of rock that holds groundwater.

In so-called room-and-pillar coal mining, pillars, or vertical columns, of coal are left standing, while the areas around them are extracted. This method maintains the ceiling of the "room" that has been mined of its coal. After the mine is abandoned, however, the pillar eventually may experience so much stress that it breaks, leading to the collapse of the mined room. As when the ceiling of a cave collapses, the subsidence of a coal mine leaves a visible depression above ground.

Uplift

As its name implies, uplift describes a process and results opposite to those of subsidence. In uplift the surface of Earth rises, owing either to a decrease in downward force or to an increase in upward force. One of the most prominent examples of uplift is seen when plates collide, as when India careened into the southern edge of the Eurasian landmass some 55 million years ago. The result has been a string of mountain ranges, including the Himalayas, Karakoram Range, and Hindu Kush, that contain most of the world's tallest peaks.

Plates move at exceedingly slow speeds, but their mass is enormous. This means that their inertia (the tendency of a moving object to keep moving unless acted upon by an outside force) is likewise gargantuan in scale. Therefore, when plates collide, though they are moving at a rate equal to only a few inches a year, they will keep pushing into each other like two automobiles crumpling in a head-on collision. Whereas a car crash is over in a matter of seconds, however, the crumpling of continental masses takes place over hundreds of thousands of years.

When sea floor collides with sea floor, one of the plates likely will be pushed under by the other one, and, likewise, when sea floor collides with continental crust, the latter will push the sea floor under. (See Plate Tectonics for more about oceanic-oceanic and continental-oceanic collisions.) This results in the formation of volcanic mountains, such as the Andes of South America or the Cascades of the Pacific Northwest, or volcanic islands, such as those of Japan, Indonesia, or Alaska's Aleutian chain.

Isostatic Compensation

In many other instances, collision, compression, and extension cause uplift. On the other hand, as noted, uplift may result from the removal of a weight. This occurs at the end of an ice age, when glaciers as thick as 1.9 mi. (3 km) melt, gradually removing a vast weight pressing down on the surface below.

This movement leads to what is called isostatic compensation, or isostatic rebound, as the crust pushes upward like a seat cushion rising after a person is longer sitting on it. Scandinavia is still experiencing uplift at a rate of about 0.5 in. (1 cm) per year as the after-effect of glacial melting from the last ice age. The latter ended some 10,000 years ago, but in geologic terms this is equivalent to a few minutes' time on the human scale.

Islands

Geomorphology, as noted earlier, is concerned with landforms, such as mountains and volcanoes as well as larger ones, including islands and even continents. Islands present a particularly interesting area of geomorphologic study. In general, islands have certain specific characteristics in terms of their land structure and can be analyzed from the standpoint of the geosphere, but particular islands also have unique ecosystems, requiring an interdisciplinary study that draws on botany, zoology, and other subjects.

In addition, there is something about an island that has always appealed to the human imagination, as evidenced by the many myths, legends, and stories about islands. Some examples include Homer's Odyssey, in which the hero Odysseus visits various islands in his long wanderings; Thomas More's Utopia, describing an idealized island republic; Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe, in which the eponymous hero lives for many years on an island with no companion but the trusty native Friday; Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, in which the island is the focus of a treasure hunt; and Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, depicting Jackson Island in the Mississippi River, to which Huckleberry Finn flees to escape "civilization."

One of the favorite subjects of cartoonists is that of a castaway stranded on a desert island, a mound of sand with no more than a single tree. Movies, too, have long portrayed scenarios, from the idyllic to the brutal, that take place on islands, particularly deserted ones, a notable example being Cast Away (2000). A famous line by the English poet John Donne (1572-1631) warns that "no man is an island," implying that many wish they could enjoy the independence suggested by the concept of an island. Within the Earth system, however, nothing is fully independent, and, as we shall see, this is certainly the case where islands are concerned.

The Islands of Earth

Earth has literally tens of thousands of islands. Just two archipelagos (island chains), those that make up the Philippines and Indonesia, include thousands of islands each. While there are just a few dozen notable islands on Earth, many more dot the planet's seas and oceans. The largest are these:

• Greenland (Danish, northern Atlantic): 839,999 sq. mi.(2,175,597 sq km)
• New Guinea (divided between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, western Pacific): 316,615 sq. mi. (820,033 sq km)
• Borneo (divided between Indonesia and Malaysia, western Pacific): 286,914 sq. mi. (743,107 sq km)
• Madagascar (Malagasy Republic, western Indian Ocean): 226,657 sq. mi. (587,042 sq km)
• Baffin (Canadian, northern Atlantic): 183,810 sq. mi. (476,068 sq km)
• Sumatra (Indonesian, northeastern Indian Ocean): 182,859 sq. mi. (473,605 sq km)

The list could go on and on, but it stops at Sumatra because the next-largest island, Honshu (part of Japan), is less than half as large, at 88,925 sq. mi. (230,316 sq km). Clearly, not all islands are created equal, and though some are heavily populated or enjoy the status of independent nations (e.g., Great Britain at number eight or Cuba at number 15), they are not necessarily the largest. On the other hand, some of the largest are among the most sparsely populated.

Of the 32 largest islands in the world, more than a third are in the icy northern Atlantic and Arctic, with populations that are small or practically nonexistent. Greenland's population, for instance, was just over 59,000 in 1998, while that of Baffin Island was about 13,200. On both islands, then, each person has about 14 frozen sq. mi. (22 sq km) to himself or herself, making them among the most sparsely populated places on Earth.

Continents, Oceans, and Islands

Australia, of course, is not an island but a continent, a difference that is not related directly to size. If Australia were an island, it would be by far the largest. Australia is regarded as a continent, however, because it is one of the principal landmasses of the Indo-Australian plate, which is among a handful of major continental plates on Earth. Whereas continents are more or less permanent (though they have experienced considerable rearrangement over the eons), islands come and go, seldom lasting more than 10 million years. Erosion or rising sea levels remove islands, while volcanic explosions can create new ones, as when an eruption off the coast of Iceland resulted in the formation of an island, Surtsey, in 1963.

Islands are of two types, continental and oceanic. Continental islands are part of continental shelves (the submerged, sloping ledges of continents) and may be formed in one of two ways. Rising ocean waters either cover a coastal region, leaving only the tallest mountains exposed as islands or cut off part of a peninsula, which then becomes an island. Most of Earth's significant islands are continental and are easily spotted as such, because they lie at close proximity to continental landmasses. Many other continental islands are very small, however; examples include the barrier islands that line the East Coast of the United States. Formed from mainland sand brought to the coast by rivers, these are technically not continental islands, but they more clearly fit into that category than into the grouping of oceanic islands.

Oceanic islands, of which the Hawaiian-Emperor island chain and the Aleutians off the Alaskan coast are examples, form as a result of volcanic activity on the ocean floor. In most cases, there is a region of high volcanic activity, called a hot spot, beneath the plates, which move across the hot spot. This is the situation in Hawaii, and it explains why the volcanoes on the southern islands are still active while those to the north are not: the islands themselves are moving north across the hot spot. If two plates converge and one subducts (see Plate Tectonics for an explanation of this process), a deep trench with a parallel chain of volcanic islands may develop. Exemplified by the Aleutians, these chains are called island arcs.

Island Ecosystems

The ecosystem, or community of all living organisms, on islands can be unique owing to their separation from continents. The number of life-forms on an island is relatively small and can encompass some unusual circumstances compared with the larger ecosystems of continents. Ireland, for instance, has no native snakes, a fact "explained" by the legend that Saint Patrick drove them away. Hawaii and Iceland are also blessedly free of serpents.

Oceanic islands, of course, tend to have more unique ecosystems than do continental islands. The number of land-based animal life-forms is necessarily small, whereas the varieties of birds, flying insects, and surrounding marine life will be greater owing to those creatures' mobility across water. Vegetation is relatively varied, given the fact that winds, water currents, and birds may carry seeds.

Nonetheless, ecosystems of islands tend to be fairly delicate and can be upset by the human introduction of new predators (e.g., dogs) or new creatures to consume plant life (e.g., sheep). These changes sometimes can have disastrous effects on the overall balance of life on islands. Overgrazing may even open up the possibility of erosion, which has the potential of bringing an end to an island's life.

Where to Learn More

Color Landform Atlas of the United States (Web site). <http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/states.html>.

Erickson, Jon. Rock Formations and Unusual Geologic Structures: Exploring the Earth's Surface. New York: Facts on File, 1993.

Erickson, Jon. Making the Earth: Geologic Forces That Shape Our Planet. New York: Facts on File, 2000.

Gerrard, John. Rocks and Landforms. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1988.

Image Gallery of Landforms (Web site). <http://www.athena.ivv.nasa.gov/curric/land/landform/landform.html>.

Selby, Michael John. Earth's Changing Surface: An Introduction to Geomorphology. New York: Clarendon Press, 1985.

Tinkler, K. J. A Short History of Geomorphology. Totowa, NJ: Barnes and Noble, 1985.

The Virtual Geomorphology (Web site). <http://main.amu.edu.pl/~sgp/gw/gw.htm>.

Wells, Lisa. "Images Illustrating Principles of Geomorphology" (Web site). <http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/GeoImages/Wells/wells.html>.

Zoehfeld, Kathleen Weidner, and James Graham Hale. How Mountains Are Made. New York: HarperCollins, 1995.

The study of landforms, including the description, classification, origin, development, and history of planetary surface features. Emphasis is placed on the genetic interpretation of the erosional and depositional features of the Earth's surface. However, geomorphologists also study primary relief elements formed by movements of the Earth's, crust, topography on the sea floor and on other planets, and applications of geomorphic information to problems in environmental engineering.

Geomorphologists analyze the landscape. Their purview includes the structural framework of landscape, weathering and soils, mass movement and hillslopes, fluvial features, eolian features, glacial and periglacial phenomena, coastlines, and karst landscapes. Processes and landforms are analyzed for their adjustment through time, especially the most recent portions of Earth history. Geomorphologists consider processes from the perspectives of pedology, soil mechanics, sedimentology, geochemistry, hydrology, fluid mechanics, remote sensing, and other sciences. The complexity of geomorphic processes has required this interdisciplinary approach, but it has also led to a theoretical vacuum in the science. At present many geomorphologists are organizing their studies through a form of systems analysis. The landscape is conceived of as a series of elements linked by flows of mass and energy. Process studies measure the inputs, outputs, and transfers for these systems. Systems analysis provides an organizational framework within which geomorphologists are developing models to predict selected phenomena.

The study of the nature and history of landforms and the processes which create them. Initially, the subject was committed to unravelling the history of landform development, but to this evolutionary approach has been added a drive to understand the way in which geomorphological processes operate. In many cases, geomorphologists have tried to model geomorphological processes, and, more recently, some have been concerned with the effect of human agency on such processes.

The study of the shape and form of the landscape, and how the nature of landforms relates to their origin, development, and change over time.

For other uses, see Physiographic regions of the world.

Surface of the Earth

Geomorphology (from Greek: γη, ge, "earth"; μορφή, morfé, "form"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them. Geomorphologists seek to understand why landscapes look the way they do: to understand landform history and dynamics, and predict future changes through a combination of field observation, physical experiment, and numerical modeling. Geomorphology is practiced within geography, geology, geodesy, engineering geology, archaeology, and geotechnical engineering. Early studies in geomorphology are the foundation for pedology, one of two main branches of soil science.

Landforms evolve in response to a combination of natural and anthropogenic processes. The landscape is built up through tectonic uplift and volcanism. Denudation occurs by erosion and mass wasting, which produces sediment that is transported and deposited elsewhere within the landscape or off the coast. Landscapes are also lowered by subsidence, either due to tectonics or physical changes in underlying sedimentary deposits. These processes are each influenced differently by climate, ecology, and human activity.

Practical applications of geomorphology include measuring the effects of climate change, hazard assessments including landslide prediction and mitigation, river control and restoration, coastal protection, and assessing the presence of water on Mars.

Contents 1 History 2 Processes 2.1 Fluvial 2.2 Aeolian 2.3 Hillslope 2.4 Glacial 2.5 Weathering 3 Taxonomy 4 See also 5 References 6 Courses 7 External links

History

Perhaps the earliest one to devise a theory of geomorphology was the polymath Chinese scientist and statesman Shen Kuo (1031-1095 AD). This was based on his observation of marine fossil shells in a geological stratum of a mountain hundreds of miles from the Pacific Ocean. Noticing bivalve 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 by soil erosion of the mountains and by deposition of silt, after observing strange natural erosions of the Taihang Mountains and the Yandang Mountain near Wenzhou. Furthermore, he promoted the theory of gradual climate change over centuries of time once ancient petrified bamboos were found to be preserved underground in the dry, northern climate zone of Yanzhou, which is now modern day Yan'an, Shaanxi province.

The first geomorphic model was the geographical cycle or the cycle of erosion, developed by William Morris Davis between 1884 and 1899. The cycle was inspired by theories of uniformitarianism which were first formulated by James Hutton (1726-1797). Concerning valley forms, the cycle was depicted as a sequence by which a river would cut a valley more and more deeply, but then erosion of side valleys would eventually flatten out the terrain again, now at a lower elevation. The cycle could be started over by uplift of the terrain. The model is today considered too much of a simplification to be especially useful in practice..

Walther Penck developed an alternative model in the 1920s, based on ratios of uplift and erosion, but it was also too weak to explain a variety of landforms. Grove Karl Gilbert was an important early American geomorphologist.

Processes

Age of seafloor crust. Red is youngest.

Modern geomorphology focuses on the quantitative analysis of interconnected processes, such as the contribution of solar energy, the rates of steps of the hydrologic cycle, plate movement rates from geophysics to compute the age and expected fate of landforms and the weathering and erosion of the land. The use of more precise measurement technique has also enabled processes like erosion to be observed directly, rather than merely surmised from other evidence. Computer simulation is also valuable for testing that a particular model yields results with properties similar to real terrain.

Primary surface processes responsible for most topographic features include wind, waves, weathering, mass wasting, groundwater, surface water, glaciers, tectonism, and volcanism.

Fluvial

Main article: Fluvial

Rivers and streams are not only conduits of water, but also of sediment. The water, as it flows over the channel bed, is able to mobilize sediment and transport it downstream, either as bed load, suspended load or dissolved load. The rate of sediment transport depends on the availability of sediment itself and on the river's discharge.

As rivers flow across the landscape, they generally increase in size, merging with other rivers. The network of rivers thus formed is a drainage system and is often dendritic, but may adopt other patterns depending on the regional topography and underlying geology.

See also: Hack's law and Sediment transport

Aeolian

Main article: Aeolian processes

Aeolian processes pertain to the activity of the winds and more specifically, to the winds' ability to shape the surface of the Earth. Winds may erode, transport, and deposit materials, and are effective agents in regions with sparse vegetation and a large supply of unconsolidated sediments. Although water is much more powerful than wind, aeolian processes are important in arid environments such as deserts.

Example of mass wasting at Palo Duro Canyon, Texas

Hillslope

Main article: Mass wasting

Soil, regolith, and rock move downslope under the force of gravity via creep, slides, flows, topples, and falls. Such mass wasting occurs on both terrestrial and submarine slopes, and has been observed on Earth, Mars, Venus, Titan and Iapetus.

Glacial

Glaciers, while geographically restricted, are effective agents of landscape change. The gradual movement of ice down a valley causes abrasion and plucking of the underlying rock. Abrasion produces fine sediment, termed glacial flour. The debris transported by the glacier, when the glacier recedes, is termed a moraine. Glacial erosion is responsible for U-shaped valleys, as opposed to the V-shaped valleys of fluvial origin.

See also: Glacier morphology

Weathering

Main article: Weathering

This results from chemical dissolution of rock and from the mechanical wearing of rock by plant roots, ice expansion, and the abrasive action of sediment. Weathering provides the source of the sediment transported by fluvial, glacial, aeolian, or biotic processes.

Taxonomy

Different geomorphological processes dominate at different spatial and temporal scales. To help categorize landscape scales some geomorphologists use the following taxonomy:

• 1st - Continent, ocean basin, climatic zone (~10,000,000 km²)
• 2nd - Shield, e.g. Baltic Shield, or mountain range (~1,000,000 km²)
• 3rd - Isolated sea, Sahel (~100,000 km²)
• 4th - Massif, e.g. Massif Central or Group of related landforms, e.g., Weald (~10,000 km²)
• 5th - River valley, Cotswolds (~1,000 km²)
• 6th - Individual mountain or volcano, small valleys (~100 km²)
• 7th - Hillslopes, stream channels, estuary (~10 km²)
• 8th - gully, barchannel (~1 km²)
• 9th - Meter-sized features

See also

Badlands Base level Bioerosion Biogeology Biogeomorphology Biorhexistasy Coastal erosion Drainage basin Drainage system (Geomorphology) Engineering geology Erosion prediction Fluvial landforms of streams Geologic modelling Geomorphometry Geotechnics

Hack's law Hydrologic modeling, behavioral modeling in hydrology Landscape Lithosphere Mound Physical geography Regolith Sediment transport Soil Soil conservation Soil mechanics Soil morphology Soils retrogression and degradation Stream capture List of important publications in geology

References

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (February 2008)

• Selby, Michael John (1985). Earth's changing surface: an introduction to geomorphology. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-823252-7. 
• Chorley, Richard J.; Stanley Alfred Schumm and David E. Sugden (1985). Geomorphology. London: Methuen. ISBN 0-416-32590-4. 
• Edmaier, Bernhard (2004). Earthsong. London: Phaidon Press. ISBN 0-7148-4451-9. 
• Scheidegger, Adrian E. (2004). Morphotectonics. Berlin: Springer. ISBN 3-540-20017-7. 
• Needham, Joseph (1954). Science and civilisation in China. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-05801-5. 
• Kondolf, G. Mathias; Hervé Piégay (2003). Tools in fluvial geomorphology. New York: Wiley. ISBN 0-471-49142-X. 

Courses

• Geomorphic and Ecological Fundamentals for River and Stream Restoration: includes a listing of instructors & additional short courses in Geomorphology topics taught by this group.

External links

• International Association of Geomorphologists
• Geomorphology in the Association of American Geographers
• British Society for Geomorphology
• Association of Polish Geomorphologists
• German Geomorphologists Group (Deutscher Arbeitskreis fuer Geomorphologie
• Model of landscape evolution by William Morris Davis (by GEOMORPHLIST)
• The Geographical Cycle, or the Cycle of Erosion (1899)
• Geomorphology from Space (by NASA)
• USDA-NRCS Web Soil Survey Survey of surficial geologic deposits and geomorphology across the U.S.

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