Hydrogeomorphology

Hydrogeomorphology is the study of how hydrological processes shape the Earth's surface and, conversely, how landforms influence the movement, storage, and availability of water. It sits at the intersection of hydrology, which focuses on water in the environment, and geomorphology, which studies landforms and their change over time.

Key processes include river incision and floodplain development, sediment transport and deposition by flowing water, and erosion of hillslopes by rainfall and surface runoff. Groundwater–surface water interactions, such as baseflow and groundwater sapping, modify channel form and hydrograph response. In coastal and glaciated regions, water-driven processes reshape shorelines, deltas, valleys, and moraines. Climate, vegetation, and tectonics set the boundary conditions, while human activities such as damming, irrigation, urbanization, and land-use change alter water availability and erosion rates.

The field considers timescales from rapid events like floods to long-term landscape evolution, and scales from small catchments to continental basins. Methods combine field measurements and hydrological monitoring with remote sensing, geographic information systems, and numerical models of flow, sediment transport, and landform development. Dating techniques help reconstruct past hydrogeomorphic changes and test process–form relations.

Applications include flood risk assessment and mitigation, estimation of sediment yields and river sediment management, watershed planning and river restoration, coastal erosion control, and evaluation of groundwater resources and aquifer recharge. While closely related to fluvial geomorphology, hydrogeomorphology emphasizes the hydrological controls on form and process and often overlaps with ecohydrology and hydrogeology.