Lecture -1 Notes- By IAS NEXT
The scientific study of the origin of landforms based on a cause and effect relationship. Geomorphology is closer to geology and is moving away from geography.'
what is Landform?
A landform is an individual topographic feature, of whatever size; thus the term could refer to something as minor as a cliff or a sand dune, as well as to something as major as a peninsula or a mountain range. The plural-landforms is less restrictive and is generally considered synonymous with topography.
What is Topography ?
The surface features of the Earth’s surface, including the relief, the terrain, the vegetation, the soils and all the features created in the landscape by human endeavor. It is not synonymous merely with relief.
What is Uniformitarianism?
Fundamental to understanding topographic development is familiarity with the doctrine called uniformitarianism, which holds that ‘the present is the key to past’.
This means that the processes that formed the topography of the past are the same ones that have shaped contemporary topography; these processes are still functioning in the same fashion and, barring unforeseen cataclysm, will be responsible for the topography of the future.
The processes involved are not temporary and, with only a few exceptions, not abrupt. They are mostly permanent and slow acting. The development of landforms is a virtually endless event, with the topography at any given time simply representing a temporary balance in a continuum of change.
what is Geomorphic process?
Process considers the actions that have combined to produce the landform.
A variety of forces – usually geologic, hydrologic, atmospheric and biotic – are always at work shaping the feature of the lithospheric surface, and their interaction is critical to the formation of the feature(s).
What is Geologic Structure ?
Structure refers to the nature, arrangement, and orientation of the materials making up the feature being studied.
Structure is essentially the geologic underpinning of the landform. It is a dominant control factor in the evolution of landforms.
It is the overall relationship between rocks together with their large scale arrangements and dispositions. Structure includes faults, folds, rock massiveness, rock harness, constituent minerals, permeability or impermeability and the like.
According to W.M.Davis “Landforms are a function of structure, process and stage”.
What is Relief?
It is the character of the land surface of the earth. It comprises a wide variety of landforms, which can be grouped into different types of terrain. (Terrain is the physical characteristics of the natural features of and area, i.e. its landforms, vegetation and soils.)
