TERRAIN ANALYSIS

By LINDA ROBINSON

CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION: CONCEPTS AND GEOMORPHOLOGY 1 1 GEOMORPHOLOGY AS A DISCIPLINE 1 2 TECHNIQUES EMPLOYED BY GEOMORPHOLOGISTS 1 3 A STRUCTURE FOR CONCEPTS SECTION A SYSTEM CONTEXTS 2 THE SYSTEMS APPROACH 2 1 ADOPTION OF THE SYSTEMS APPROACH IN LANDFORM SCIENCE AND GEOMORPHOLOGY 2 2 EMBEDDING AND ENCOMPASSING THE SYSTEMS APPROACH 2 3 CONCLUSION 3 UNIFORMITARIANISM 3 1 THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNIFORMITARIANISM 3 2 ADDITIONAL CONCEPTS 3 3 PRESENT SIGNIFICANCE 4 LANDFORM 4 1 BUILDING BLOCKS OF LANDSCAPE 4 2 CLASSIFICATION, HIERARCHIES AND ASSOCIATED CONCEPTS 4 3 CONTEMPORARY PERCEPTIONS OF REALITY AND INTERPRETATIONS 5 FORM, PROCESS AND MATERIALS 5 1 RELATING FORM, PROCESS AND MATERIALS 5 2 A THEME PREVAILING IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF GEOMORPHOLOGY AND LANDFORM SCIENCE 5 3 A VIEW OF THE PRESENT POSITION 6 EQUILIBRIUM 6 1 DEVELOPING EQUILIBRIUM 6 2 DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF RELATED CONCEPTS 6 3 THE PRESENT STATUS 6 4 CONCLUSION 7 COMPLEXITY AND NON-LINEAR DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS 7 1 INCREASING COMPLEXITY 7 2 MODELLING COMPLEXITY IN NON-LINEAR DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS 7 3 MULTIDISCIPLINARY COMPLEXITY 7 4 CONCLUSION SECTION B SYSTEM FUNCTIONING 8 CYCLES 8 1 GLOBAL CYCLES 8 2 TEMPORAL CYCLES 8 3 SPATIAL CASCADES 8 4 CONCLUSION 9 FORCE-RESISTANCE 9 1 SOURCES OF ENERGY 9 2 FORCE AND RESISTANCE 9 3 EXPRESSIONS OF FORCE, RESISTANCE, STRESS AND STRAIN AND THEIR ASSESSMENT 9 4 CONCLUSION 10 GEOMORPHIC WORK 10 1 THE CONCEPT OF GEOMORPHIC WORK 10 2 MAGNITUDE AND FREQUENCY 10 3 POWER 10 4 CONCLUSION 11 PROCESS-FORM MODELS 11 1 LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION MODELS 11 2 CHARACTERISTIC FORM 11 3 MULTIPLE OUTCOMES IN LANDSCAPE MODELS SECTION C SYSTEM ADJUSTMENTS 12 TIMESCALES 12 1 DIVIDING TIME 12 2 EVENTS AND EPISODES 12 3 CONCLUSION 13 FORCINGS 13 1 ALLOGENIC HISTORIES 13 2 AUTOGENIC PROCESSES 13 3 THRESHOLDS AND PERTURBATIONS 13 4 CONCLUSION 14 CHANGE TRAJECTORIES 14 1 CHANGE MODELS 14 2 MULTIPLE PATHS, MULTIPLE OUTCOMES AND EQUIFINALITY 14 3 HIERARCHIES AND COMPLEXITIES 14 4 MODELLING ISSUES 14 5 CONCLUSION 15 INHERITANCE 15 1 THE HISTORICAL MEMORY 15 2 HISTORICAL CONTINGENCY 15 3 GEOMORPHOLOGICAL SENSITIVITY 15 4 SHAPE SHIFTS: THE GRADUAL AND THE CATASTROPHIC 15 5 CONCLUSION 16 THE ‘ANTHROPOCENE’ 16 1 RECOGNITION OF HUMAN ACTIVITY 16 2 CONCEPTS ASSOCIATED WITH HUMAN IMPACTS 16 3 IMPLICATIONS OF HUMAN AGENCY FOR GEOMORPHOLOGY 16 4 THE ANTHROPOCENE AS A NEW GEOLOGICAL EPOCH 16 5 CONCLUSION SECTION D DRIVERS FOR THE FUTURE 17 GEOMORPHIC HAZARDS 17 1 THE RANGE OF GEOMORPHIC HAZARDS 17 2 GEOMORPHOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS 17 3 FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS 18 GEOMORPHIC ENGINEERING 18 1 WHY GEOMORPHIC ENGINEERING? 18 2 PROGRESS OF APPLICATIONS OF GEOMORPHOLOGY 18 3 OUTSTANDING REQUIREMENTS 19 PREDICTION AND DESIGN 19 1 A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 19 2 DESIGN IN GEOMORPHOLOGY 19 3 ACHIEVEMENTS 19 4 POTENTIAL AND UNCERTAINTY? CONCLUSION 20 THE CONCEPT OF GEOMORPHOLOGY