Preface
xi
The great majority of references in this book are in fact from the English-language
literature, and thus these concepts originally had to be converted into Spanish for the initial
volume. But because this book was then translated from the Spanish back into English by
some ten different translators, some of our phraseology may be a little less artful than
intended by the original authors of the primary references. If this is detected by anyone I
must plead guilty myself to the difficulty presented in editing some of the literal
translations back into the rather more idiomatic presentations that exactly reflect the
original intentions, as well as being also quite accurate scientifically. We of the editorial
staff did our best to convey the key ideas and information without error, but some few
problems may have crept in inadvertently in this fashion anyway, inasmuch as we did not
elect to rewrite the text from the original primary references. By and large the original text
was also left fairly unmodified in the editorial process, with the exception of a few added
observations and more up-to-date references that were felt to enhance the text.
The disconnect between the dominant studies of process geomorphology of the last half
of the 20th century, or what has been referred to as timeless geomorphology, and an adequate
exposition of time-bound landform evolution has become obvious to many geomorphologists at the beginning of the 21 st century. This book, Climatic Geomorphology, is put
forward as one approach to better understanding landform evolution from a climatic control
of process such that the time-bound nature of the control is seen to exert both subtle and
obvious process-directed changes to the landscape. An alternative and quantitatively robust
approach to achieving this same result can be observed at many of the more advanced
geoscientific meetings of the world today wherein the equations of climate-controlled
process mechanics are run iteratively with computers to synthesize landscape evolution.
Decades of new work in this vein are likely to be required to make adequate and realistic
progress with this new technology, but this robust methodology is already producing
dramatic results. It is likely that this book can serve as one of the background sources of
concepts and references that will enable better understanding of these process mechanics
under certain climate forcings, and the inevitable fluctuations that must result from climate
change. In this fashion we may eventually come to better understand the rich variety of
climatically controlled landscapes that dominate planet Earth.
The publication of this book, Climatic Geomorphology, represents the first of the now
rejuvenated series on Developments in Earth Surface Processes published by Elsevier.
Geomorphology in the 21st century seems to be undergoing a renaissance of theory and
methodologies as we recover from the paucity of robust theoretical underpinnings following
the partial collapse and/or dramatic revisions of the Davisian-Penckian-Kingian
paradigms in the middle of the prior century. After research excursions deep into the
reductionistic thickets of process geomorphology, we now seem poised to move on smartly
with the integration of short-term, timeless, landform process studies into long-term, timebound, landform evolution. This book is offered as a rejuvenated first in a series of what is
hoped will be an ever-increasing list of titles of new developments in geomorphology.
John Shroder
xi
The great majority of references in this book are in fact from the English-language
literature, and thus these concepts originally had to be converted into Spanish for the initial
volume. But because this book was then translated from the Spanish back into English by
some ten different translators, some of our phraseology may be a little less artful than
intended by the original authors of the primary references. If this is detected by anyone I
must plead guilty myself to the difficulty presented in editing some of the literal
translations back into the rather more idiomatic presentations that exactly reflect the
original intentions, as well as being also quite accurate scientifically. We of the editorial
staff did our best to convey the key ideas and information without error, but some few
problems may have crept in inadvertently in this fashion anyway, inasmuch as we did not
elect to rewrite the text from the original primary references. By and large the original text
was also left fairly unmodified in the editorial process, with the exception of a few added
observations and more up-to-date references that were felt to enhance the text.
The disconnect between the dominant studies of process geomorphology of the last half
of the 20th century, or what has been referred to as timeless geomorphology, and an adequate
exposition of time-bound landform evolution has become obvious to many geomorphologists at the beginning of the 21 st century. This book, Climatic Geomorphology, is put
forward as one approach to better understanding landform evolution from a climatic control
of process such that the time-bound nature of the control is seen to exert both subtle and
obvious process-directed changes to the landscape. An alternative and quantitatively robust
approach to achieving this same result can be observed at many of the more advanced
geoscientific meetings of the world today wherein the equations of climate-controlled
process mechanics are run iteratively with computers to synthesize landscape evolution.
Decades of new work in this vein are likely to be required to make adequate and realistic
progress with this new technology, but this robust methodology is already producing
dramatic results. It is likely that this book can serve as one of the background sources of
concepts and references that will enable better understanding of these process mechanics
under certain climate forcings, and the inevitable fluctuations that must result from climate
change. In this fashion we may eventually come to better understand the rich variety of
climatically controlled landscapes that dominate planet Earth.
The publication of this book, Climatic Geomorphology, represents the first of the now
rejuvenated series on Developments in Earth Surface Processes published by Elsevier.
Geomorphology in the 21st century seems to be undergoing a renaissance of theory and
methodologies as we recover from the paucity of robust theoretical underpinnings following
the partial collapse and/or dramatic revisions of the Davisian-Penckian-Kingian
paradigms in the middle of the prior century. After research excursions deep into the
reductionistic thickets of process geomorphology, we now seem poised to move on smartly
with the integration of short-term, timeless, landform process studies into long-term, timebound, landform evolution. This book is offered as a rejuvenated first in a series of what is
hoped will be an ever-increasing list of titles of new developments in geomorphology.
John Shroder