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Geomorphology

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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Synonyms

Evolution of the landscape; Landform study

Definition

Geomorphology is the systematic study of landforms and the processes that form and change them.

Introduction

Geomorphology and its close ally, soil science, are major components of geoarchaeological practice today, and they were significant contributors to the emergence of the field of geoarchaeology. As the study of landforms, geomorphology helps to explain the evolution of the physical landscape, often referred to as “relief.” Landforms are the result of physical forces referred to as geomorphic processes, and these processes are broadly divided into internal (endogenic) and external (exogenic) (Fig. 1). The internal processes include movements of the earth’s crust that build surface relief by means of diastrophism (folding and faulting of rocks) and volcanism. The external processes, on the other hand, are those that sculpt the landscape through weathering, mass movement, and fluvial, eolian, glacial, and coastal...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA

    Carlos E. Cordova

Authors
  1. Carlos E. Cordova
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carlos E. Cordova .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Sociology & Anthropology, Fordham University, Bronx, NY, USA

    Allan S. Gilbert

  2. University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia

    Paul Goldberg

  3. University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Rolfe D. Mandel

  4. University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    Vera Aldeias

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Cordova, C.E. (2023). Geomorphology. In: Gilbert, A.S., Goldberg, P., Mandel, R.D., Aldeias, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44600-0_171-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44600-0_171-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-44600-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-44600-0

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