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Semester 2

Geomorphology (GEGR08002)

Subject

Geography

College

SCE

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

2

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Course Summary

This course on the principles of geomorphology looks at the relationship between processes and landforms at a variety of scales in space and time. It examines endogenic processes originating within the earth, exogenic processes occurring at the earth atmosphere ocean interface and the way they interact to create landforms.

Course Description

The course will discuss the historical development and present use of major concepts in geomorphology such as uniformitarianism and catastrophism, magnitude and frequency of geomorphic events, ideas of landform equilibrium and evolution and the importance of temporal and spatial scales. We will also consider the nature of chemical and physical weathering and the concept of the Critical Zone. The importance and impact of soil erosion will also be considered. The course covers the properties and behaviour of materials and the forces acting on slopes, mass movements and case studies of slope instability.Hydrology is discussed through drainage basins, spatial and temporal variations in channel discharge, runoff generation, and the nature of open channel flow, fluvial erosion and sediment entrainment, fluvial sediment transport and deposition. We will also discuss drainage basin morphometry, the cross-sectional and plan form of river channels, depositional and erosional fluvial landforms and variations in fluvial activity. A consideration of river flooding rounds off this part of the course. The morphology and behaviour of glaciers and ice sheets will also be studied, including the mechanisms and products of glacial formation, the concept of mass balance, the mechanisms of glacial flow, erosion and deposition; fluvioglacial erosion and deposition and the geomorphological landforms created. We also explain how studying landforms helps us to understand past processes, reconstruct former glacial environments and also inform us of contemporary glacial systems.On a larger scale, the course covers global geomorphology and its relationship to isostasy and tectonic processes. We will also discuss the range of processes which create mountains and how the erosion of these mountains accelerates uplift (isostasy). The final lecture in this part of the course concerns rates of landscape change, both uplift and denudation, and will discuss the factors that control erosion and uplift and how these can be measured and dated.The course finishes with three interconnected lectures. Firstly, we will also discuss volcanic geomorphology and look at the range of landforms created by volcanic activity on Earth. Picking up themes discussed at the beginning of the course, we will discuss the evidence for megafloods and their importance on landscape evolution on Earth. Finally, the course ends in a lecture where we apply knowledge of the geomorphology of the Earth to help understand the landscape features and processes found on Mars, where there is evidence of slope processes, rivers, megafloods and volcanic activity.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 30%, Coursework 70%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Assessment Information

Written Exam: 30%, Course Work: 70 %Class assessment: 1 tutorial assignment of 600 words each, submission of a degree essay outline, 1 group tutorial presentation and 1 mapping tutorial exercise.Degree assessment: 2000 word essay = 50%, four practicals (5% each making 20% of the total), 24 hour take home exam (essay) = 30%.Assessment deadlines:Degree Essay: Week 8Practical Classes: Weeks 6, 7, 9 and 10

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