Geomorphology Vignettes

These illustrated essays have been contributed by participants in the Teaching Geomorphology in the 21st Century workshop in 2008. The vignettes are drafts that are being written and revised by the participants and are not finished products.


Results 1 - 10 of 229 matches

Fluvial geomorphology in a tank - The scientific value of physical experiments
Nikki Strong, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
The beauty and utility of experiments is to illuminate the fundamental processes that drive the evolution of natural systems. Experiments help us build intuition for processes that otherwise might be hard to ...

Subject: Geomorphology: Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Climate/Paleoclimate, Dating and Rates, Landforms/Processes:Coastal-zone, Fluvial, Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Landforms/Processes, Landscape Evolution, Modeling/Physical Experiments, Tectonic Geomorphology, Geoscience:Geology:Tectonics
Vignette Type: Process, Stratigraphy, Chronology, Computation

Using technology as an aid to the geomorphologist
Sarah Robinson, Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus
Geomorphology requires characterization of the earth's surface at sufficient high resolution in 3 dimensions to explicitly represent landforms. Measuring change requires repeat survey, thus adding the 4th ...

Subject: Geomorphology: Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:GIS/Mapping/Field Techniques, Landforms/Processes, Landscape Evolution, Tectonic Geomorphology, Geoscience:Geology:Tectonics
Vignette Type: Chronology, Computation

Using geomorphology to determine tectonic slip at Wallace Creek
Sarah Robinson, Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus
The Carrizo Plain along the San Andreas fault in California is world-famous for its dramatic offset features. Sag ponds, linear ridges, beheaded channels and scarps define the landscape along the fault (Vedder and ...

Subject: Geomorphology: Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Arid Region Geomorphology, Dating and Rates, Landscape Evolution, Tectonic Geomorphology, Geoscience:Geology:Tectonics
Vignette Type: Chronology

Karst Processes and Landforms on San Salvador Island, Bahamas
R. Laurence Davis, University of New Haven
INTRODUCTION San Salvador Island is located in the Central Bahamas, about 225 km ESE of Miami and is about 12 km north to south and about 5 km east to west (Figure 1). It is notable for being Columbus' first ...

Subject: Geomorphology: Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Landforms/Processes:Karst
Vignette Type: Process

Geomorphic history controls the locations of fresh-water wetlands on barrier islands, Virginia's Atlantic shore
Rich Whittecar, Old Dominion University
Fresh-water ponds on low sand islands Native Americans, pirates and the early European colonists used them. Ship-wreaked sailors owe their survival to them. Fresh-water ponds somehow seem out of place, though, ...

Subject: Geomorphology: Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Landforms/Processes:Coastal-zone, Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Geomorphology as applied to other disciplines
Vignette Type: Process, Stratigraphy

Plateau Glaciers and their significance
Brian Whalley, niversity of Sheffield
Plateaus exist in many mountainous parts of the world. Although not as spectacular as high, prominent peaks, they do often have (or have had in the past) glaciers associated with them. In this vignette I describe ...

Subject: Geomorphology: Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Climate/Paleoclimate, Dating and Rates, Landforms/Processes:Glacial/Periglacial, Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Landforms/Processes, Landscape Evolution
Vignette Type: Process, Chronology

Rock glaciers: their ice and debris balances
Brian Whalley, niversity of Sheffield
Rock glaciers are best defined by their topography (Fig. 1) and that they flow slowly. Their dynamic character is attributed to the flow of ice deforming the associated weathered rock debris. Typically, they flow ...

Subject: Geomorphology: Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Climate/Paleoclimate, Dating and Rates, Landforms/Processes:Glacial/Periglacial, Mass Movement, Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Landforms/Processes, Geomorphology as applied to other disciplines
Vignette Type: Process, Chronology, Computation

Salt Karst: Mount Sedom diapir
amos frumkin
A unique, rapidly evolving karst landscape is described below. It develops on salt rock (halite) at such a rate that a human lifetime is enough to observe considerable geomorphic variations. Halite is the most ...

Subject: Geomorphology: Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Arid Region Geomorphology, Climate/Paleoclimate, Dating and Rates, Landforms/Processes:Karst, Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Landforms/Processes, Landscape Evolution
Vignette Type: Process, Chronology

Precipitation and debris flows in the Adirondacks
Devin McPhillips, University of Vermont
In the Adirondack Mountains in New York State, slide scars are distinctive features of the landscape. These scars are usually long, narrow exposures of bedrock on steeper slopes that form when debris flows scour ...

Subject: Geomorphology: Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Landforms/Processes:Hillslopes, Mass Movement, Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Landforms/Processes
Vignette Type: Process

The Kern River, California: A Story of Uplift, Incision, and Flood Control
Natalie Bursztyn, University of Montana
Within Kern County, the present day Kern River is an example of two distinct river environments. In the Sierra Nevada, the Kern River is in a classic V-shaped canyon (Fig. 1) as it erodes towards base level. In ...

Subject: Geomorphology: Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Arid Region Geomorphology, Landforms/Processes:Fluvial, Geoscience:Geology:Geomorphology:Landscape Evolution
Vignette Type: Stratigraphy, Chronology