Introduction: Landscapes, Geomorphology, and Course Structure
Geomorphologists study landforms and landscapes to learn how they change and evolve. This knowledge plays directly into our understanding of geology and natural landscapes, our ability to predict natural hazards and future land-surface change, and natural-resource management.
Learning Goals
- Become acquainted with the course and how topics and assignments are arranged
- Take a critical look at landscapes and landforms
- Jump into interpreting a landscape with a VR tour of Grand Canyon
Syllabus and Schedule!
- Read the syllabus!
- Look at the course schedule too.
What is a landscape?
A landscape is a collection of features and forms on Earth’s surface, which are individually called landforms. As geomorphologists, we seek to understand the observed landforms and learn to read the information that they tell us about how a place formed. From this, we can gain knowledge about the underlying processes sculpting Earth’s surface and develop predictive models for landscape evolution into the past and future.
For a decent quick overview with some nice images, the Wikipedia article on landforms is decent.
Podcast
Video
Google Expeditions 3D/VR
This set of images has a set of questions that go along with them. They are interesting, and the geology ones can be quite relevant! However, we are not quite so concerned with them for the class.
Open-ended thinking assignment
Deliverable
Describe in your words and/or diagrams
- The landforms that you see
- Whether you can note zones of distinct geometries and processes
- How the landscape is responding to the incision of Grand Canyon
It’s okay if you feel that you do not have the right vocabulary or background. In fact, it’s expected! The idea here is to get the juices flowing and start developing your critical eye for landforms and landscape features. Just by looking closely, you should be able to see signs that show you how Grand Canyon developed and continues to form.
A response in the 3-paragraph range should probably suffice, but there is no hard length limit.
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