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.
Subject: Geomorphology Show all
Geoscience > Geology > Geomorphology > Arid Region Geomorphology
42 matchesResults 1 - 10 of 42 matches
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 ...
Vignette Type: Chronology
Sinkhole hazard above salt, Dead Sea shore
amos frumkin
The hazard of sinkholes (collapse dolines) is commonly associated with karst (landscapes dominated by dissolution and subsurface drainage), where subsurface cavities undermine the overlying strata, causing ...
Vignette Type: Chronology, 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 ...
Vignette Type: Chronology, Stratigraphy
Influence of Dam Operations on Geomorphology and Sediment in the Colorado River corridor, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Amy Draut
Large dams can greatly alter the physical and biological environments of rivers, by changing the magnitude and timing of flows, sediment transport, and water temperature. One of the most iconic landscapes in the ...
Vignette Type: Process
Cracking up: emerging evidence for the importance of the sun in the mechanical weathering of rocks
Martha Eppes, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Introduction Physical weathering, through the breakdown of rock into sediment, plays a fundamental role in the rock cycle and potentially a key role in landscape evolution. In addition, the physical breakdown of ...
Vignette Type: Process
Natural and anthropogenic impacts on a freshwater wetland, Lake Bogoria, Kenya
gail ashley, Rutgers University-New Brunswick
Introduction Wetlands are an important water resource in arid regions (<400 mm annual precipitation) and may also provide grazing opportunities for farm animals. Permanent freshwater wetlands are also important ...
Vignette Type: Process
Great Basin Dunes and Winds: What Might They Tell Us About the Geologic Record?
Paul Jewell, University of Utah
Dune fields have long been recognized as important geomorphic features of continents, both on the modern Earth and in the geologic record. While dunes can exhibit a variety of morphologies (McKee, 1979), they ...
Vignette Type: Process
Geomorphic Setting & Archaeology of the Cunene River, Namibia
Kathleen Nicoll, University of Utah
Introduction This vignette presents a virtual tour of the Cunene River, and a prehistoric archaeological site located on a fluvial terrace in northern Namibia. Today the Cunene River is an important transnational ...
Vignette Type: Stratigraphy, Process, Chronology
Living on a slippery slope: Case studies of geologic hazards from the Wasatch Front, Utah
Kathleen Nicoll, University of Utah
Throughout their history, humans have fought the natural elements; we build shelters, roads, hospitals and malls wherever we can engineer "solutions" and strategies that permit us to thrive, even in harsh ...
Vignette Type: Process
The degradation of glacial deposits in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
Dan Morgan, Vanderbilt University
Surface deposits such as glacial moraines and tills can yield significant information about the timing, extent, and rate of environmental change on Earth. In order to correctly interpret the record of past ...
Vignette Type: Computation, Process