Geomorphology: The Mechanics of Earth's Landscapes

Catalog description

Earth's surface is shaped by complex interactions between the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. Understanding these interactions allows us to decipher Earth's environmental past, anticipate landscape dynamics, and mitigate natural hazards. This course offers a quantitative examination of the processes that shape Earth's landscapes. Topics to be discussed include: hydrology; chemical weathering and soils; hillslopes, landslides, and debris flows; rivers, fluvial sediment transport, and erosion; landscape modeling; glaciers and periglacial processes; coastal processes and beach morphodynamics; winds, aeolian landforms, and erosion; rates and dates; the influence of tectonics, climate, and life on landscapes; and planetary geomorphology. The course will include day-trips over select weekends to apply concepts discussed during lecture in the field. For upper-division undergraduates and graduate students.