Geomorphology

Geomorphology is the science of the description, analysis, and the specification of processes causing landforms. The term was coined in the U.S. Geological Survey in the 1880s, although its scientific roots weremuch older because previous scientists had been studying the erosion of sculpting landscapes. The geographer William Morris Davis was a forceful early proponent of geomorphology and his considerable influence within geography helped it become the intellectual linchpin of the fledging discipline of geography in the early 20th century. Academically, geomorphology became part of both geography and geology curricula with some consternation among geographers and geologists continuing to this day. If one considers the scope of geography, geology, and geomorphology, it is clear that geomorphology occupies the nexus between the disciplines and contributes to both.

Nascent geomorphology has been around for two millennia. Classical Greek, Roman, and Arab scholars wrote numerous travel geographies that have survived In these geographies there are plentiful descriptions of landforms and landscapes along the travel routes. In modern times this tradition has been expanded into descriptions of regional geomorphology. In geographic terms, geomorphology answers “what is where” on the physical landscape and then “when” and “how.” Early on, geomorphic inquiry was intellectually handcuffed by the notion that the landforms of Earth had all been impacted by the biblical flood of Noah. In the 1700s, scientists started to question a flood origin of landforms and began to use Hutton’s concept of uniformitarianism that espoused series of processes acting over long times to create landforms. In that it uses uniformitarianism to deduce the past, geomorphology can also ascend to the pinnacle of science by providing forecasts of the evolution of future landscapes. Since the 1960s, concepts of plate tectonics have revolutionized geomorphology. The realization that there are crustal plates and they move has caused an epiphany in geomorphology. While geomorphologists have long realized that parts of Earth’s crust rise and fall, plate tectonics have provided a mega-overview that has been used to great advantage. Although not all the details are known, the parts that are certain are of immense scientific value. Why do most large volcanoes cluster around the rim of the Pacific Ocean? Why do oceanic ridges and trenches exist? Why are the oldest rocks exposed at Earth’s surface younger than Earth by, perhaps, a half a billion years? These are question for which there are now firm answers.