Climatic geomorphology
11
(upper left) 'Young' karst with extensive flat surfaces between dolines, much of the original surface remaining.
(upper right) 'Adolescent' karst, with larger dolines and many coalescing.
(lower left) 'Mature' karst (Cockin'tlandschaft) : the original surface has disappeared; large dolines and uvalas lie between
the Cockpithiigeln.
(lower right) 'Old' karst. Only isolated hills remain upon the residual plain.
Figure 1.2. Karstic cycle (Grund, 1914).
As we can see, the response to the Davisian model was marked from the earliest
moments among some geomorphologists, but in other schools, after an initial, and fairly
generalized acceptance, Davisian ideas were abandoned. The scientific opponents of
Davis, however, never really offered alternative models to address the defects of the
normal erosion cycle.
Only Walther Penek (1888-1923) elaborated another alternative model for landscape
development in his work Morphological Analysis of Landforms. This important
geomorphologist, son of the famous researcher on glaciers Albrecht Penck, after his PhD
dissertation in 1910 at Heidelberg, worked for 2 years in the Andean Cordillera for the
Geologic Survey of Argentina. His expertise on the geology of Central Europe, together
with that acquired in the arid active tectonic zone of the Andean region, greatly influenced
the development of his theory. In addition, his primarily geological education was
complemented by the geomorphologic knowledge of his father. His book Morphological
Analysis of Landforms was written in his convalescence during a fatal illness that ended
with his death at the age of only 35 years (Bremer, 1983). His father eventually published
the book in 1924. Their thesis was an approach to geomorphology from the point of view of
a geologist who wants to find in geology an element for the interpretation of diastrophic
history (Thornbury, 1954). In this way, we can consider Penck's thinking as one of the
precursors of the geomorphologic method in neotectonic research.
Penck based his model on the study of the sedimentary sequences flanking the uplifted
blocks of the Andes and the Alps (Chorley et al., 1973) and he deduced that the relief was
generated during an initial period of slowly increasing uplift rates followed by a period
of declining uplift that eventually terminated in tectonic stability. In contradistinction,
11
(upper left) 'Young' karst with extensive flat surfaces between dolines, much of the original surface remaining.
(upper right) 'Adolescent' karst, with larger dolines and many coalescing.
(lower left) 'Mature' karst (Cockin'tlandschaft) : the original surface has disappeared; large dolines and uvalas lie between
the Cockpithiigeln.
(lower right) 'Old' karst. Only isolated hills remain upon the residual plain.
Figure 1.2. Karstic cycle (Grund, 1914).
As we can see, the response to the Davisian model was marked from the earliest
moments among some geomorphologists, but in other schools, after an initial, and fairly
generalized acceptance, Davisian ideas were abandoned. The scientific opponents of
Davis, however, never really offered alternative models to address the defects of the
normal erosion cycle.
Only Walther Penek (1888-1923) elaborated another alternative model for landscape
development in his work Morphological Analysis of Landforms. This important
geomorphologist, son of the famous researcher on glaciers Albrecht Penck, after his PhD
dissertation in 1910 at Heidelberg, worked for 2 years in the Andean Cordillera for the
Geologic Survey of Argentina. His expertise on the geology of Central Europe, together
with that acquired in the arid active tectonic zone of the Andean region, greatly influenced
the development of his theory. In addition, his primarily geological education was
complemented by the geomorphologic knowledge of his father. His book Morphological
Analysis of Landforms was written in his convalescence during a fatal illness that ended
with his death at the age of only 35 years (Bremer, 1983). His father eventually published
the book in 1924. Their thesis was an approach to geomorphology from the point of view of
a geologist who wants to find in geology an element for the interpretation of diastrophic
history (Thornbury, 1954). In this way, we can consider Penck's thinking as one of the
precursors of the geomorphologic method in neotectonic research.
Penck based his model on the study of the sedimentary sequences flanking the uplifted
blocks of the Andes and the Alps (Chorley et al., 1973) and he deduced that the relief was
generated during an initial period of slowly increasing uplift rates followed by a period
of declining uplift that eventually terminated in tectonic stability. In contradistinction,