We explain what geomorphology is, its object of study, branches and why it is important. Also, its relationship with geology.
What is geomorphology?
Geomorphology is the branch of both geology and geography, which studies the shapes of the earth's surface, to understand its origin, transformations and behavior current.
To do this, he often turns to other sciences in search of tools and knowledge. Its objective is to build geomorphological models that detail, over time, the destructive and constructive processes that resulted in the observable terrestrial landscape.
These processes are classified, according to the interests of geomorphology, into four categories, according to their nature:
- Geographical When the elements of geography such as climate, soil, gravity, fluvial, maritime action or winds intervene.
- Biotics When they are a consequence of the action of various forms of non-human life, such as vegetation, microorganisms or animals that intervene in numerous erosive processes.
- Geological. When they are those inherent to the dynamics of the Earth, such as plate tectonics, volcanism, orogenesis, etc.
- Anthropics. When they are the result of human activities, whether in favor or against erosive processes.
On the other hand, although geomorphology was inseparable from geography in its beginnings, at the end of the 19th century it assumed its own field of study, thanks to who is considered its founding father: the American geographer William Morris Davis (1850-1934).
The first scholars of geomorphology refuted with empirical evidence the dominant thesis of their time that the relief of the planetary surface was a consequence of the action of the universal flood of The Bible.
Object of study of geomorphology
Geomorphology focuses on the various forms of relief that the earth's crust presents and the factors that contribute to defining them such as climatological, hydrographic, geological, anthropic elements, etc.
In that sense, its approach is both physical (in the sense of studying the natural transformations of the lithosphere) and human (since it also contemplates the effect of human activities on the Earth's crust).
Branches of geomorphology
Geomorphology has numerous subdivisions or branches, such as:
- Climatic geomorphology As its name suggests, it studies the influence of climate on the development of a specific relief, due to the action of atmospheric phenomena such as wind, rain, atmospheric pressure and temperature.
- Fluvial geomorphology He specializes in the action of river erosion on the earth's surface, and the impact of hydrography on relief modeling.
- Aeolian geomorphology Similarly, it proposes a specialized approach to the action of wind erosion and winds on the relief of the planetary surface.
- Glacial geomorphology It is concerned with studying geographical formations linked to glaciers, for which it often relies on glaciology.
- Structural geomorphology Study the relief with emphasis on geological structures, such as faults and folds, rock outcrops, etc. It is very close in its approach to geology, naturally.
Importance of geomorphology
The geomorphological study is the main access route to the dynamics of formation of the geography of our planet, that is, allows us to answer why the relief is the way it is why there are mountains where there are, in short, why the earth's crust acts as it does and has the forms it does.
This is not minor information, because by understanding the processes that shape the world, we can also understand its history, its origins, and also understand our impact as a species on it.
Geology and geomorphology
Although both disciplines have a similar approach, when dealing with the shapes of the Earth's crust, it is important to highlight that geology has a much broader and more complex approach since geomorphology is only one of its branches.
Geology, in fact, is not only interested in the shape of the Earth, but also in the materials that compose it, in their origin, in the formation processes that occurred and continue to occur within it, in its total structure, in an endless number of aspects that escape the field. study of geomorphology, also limited to the lithosphere and the Earth's crust.
Continue with: Geophysics
References
- “Geomorphology” on Wikipedia.
- “What is Geomorphology?” at Hiru.eus.
- “Applied geomorphology” at the Higher Technical School of Roads, Canals and Ports Engineers (Spain).
- “Geomorphology” in the Geomorphological Dictionary of the Institute of Geography of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
- “What is geomorphology?” in British Society for Geomorphology.
- “Geomorphology” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
