Lecture 1_Introduction.pdf

GGY166: Southern African Geomorphology Lecture 1: Introduction  Please click on the megaphone to listen to the audio  Introduction to Geomorphology 2 Introduction 2024 Physical geography and ge...

GGY166: Southern African Geomorphology Lecture 1: Introduction  Please click on the megaphone to listen to the audio  Introduction to Geomorphology 2 Introduction 2024 Physical geography and geomorphology  Geography  Physical geography: concerned with the physical earth, processes and patterns in the natural environment, earth science  Human geography: concerned with cultures, human population distributions and demographics, anthropology, social science  Physical geography  GEOMORPHOLOGY  Glaciology  Hydrology  Climatology  Etc. Introduction 2024 What is geomorphology?  “The study of landforms, and in particular their nature, origin, processes of development and material composition” (Cooke and Doornkamp, 1990)  “The science concerned with the form of the landsurface and the processes which create it” (Summerfield,1991) Introduction 2024  What is a landform?  “The morphology and character of the land surface that results from the interaction of physical processes (e.g. fluvial action, wind action, erosion) and crustal movements (e.g. faulting and folding) with the geology of the surface layers of the Earth’s crust.”  Examples of landforms are mountains, rivers and dunes. 5 Introduction 2024  Erosional and depositional landforms Erosional landforms Depositional landforms  Formed through erosion  Formed through deposition  I.e. formed by the removal  I.e. formed by the laying and transport of sediment down of sediment (the  The landform is left behind landform is built, sediment  E.g. a cave is added)  E.g. some dunes 6 Introduction 2024 7 Introduction 2024