There is rising concern about the changing global environment. The threats of climate change and species extinctions are commonly highlighted, but what about changes to physical landscapes? Understanding how landscapes operate and change is important to enable a deeper understanding of the Earth system and better environmental management.
Geomorphology is the science that studies the origin and development of landforms — such as mountains, valleys, sand dunes and caves — and how those landforms combine to form landscapes. Figure 1, comprising three photographs, shows how geomorphological studies can vary in terms of size and timescale. Examples include analyses of landform shapes, monitoring of the processes that shape landforms (for example, flowing water, ice and wind), and characterisation of changes that occur in response to phenomena such as tectonic and volcanic activity, climate and sea-level change, and human activities. Research may focus on reconstructing past processes and landform changes, or understanding present-day processes and landform changes, or anticipating future changes.
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