Geomorphologie

Geomorphology is the scientific study of the Earth's surface forms and the processes that shape them. It seeks to understand the origin, evolution, and distribution of landforms such as valleys, mountains, dunes, coastlines, and karst features, and how climate, tectonics, biology, and human activity influence them.

The field combines process-based explanations with landform analysis. It distinguishes the processes that sculpt landscapes—weathering, erosion, transport, deposition, mass wasting, glaciation, volcanism, wind, and coastal dynamics—from the landforms that result.

Major subfields include fluvial geomorphology (rivers and streams), glacial and periglacial geomorphology, coastal geomorphology, karst geomorphology, aeolian (desert) geomorphology, tectonic geomorphology, hillslope processes, and planetary geomorphology for other planets.

Geomorphology relies on fieldwork, laboratory analyses, and increasingly on quantitative methods. Data sources include topographic maps, field surveys, sedimentology, remote sensing, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Landforms are quantified with metrics such as slope, drainage networks, incision rates, sediment yield, and landscape evolution models.

Applications span natural-hazard assessment, watershed and land-use planning, resource management, archaeology and heritage, and climate-change impact studies. The discipline emphasizes explaining both past landscape change and present-day dynamics within a broad environmental context.