London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Modules

Economics, Management, Finance and the Social Sciences - Units

Geomorphological processes [150]

Denudation and erosion of the earth: operation denudational processes, variability in denudation rates, factors causing variation in denudation, pattern of global denudation, measuring denudation, the relationship complex between denudation and climate.

Tectonic processes: the lithosphere and its long-term, dynamic nature, processes of isostatic readjustment, the relationship between uplift and denudation, long-term landscape development, the geomorphological models proposed by Davis, Penck, King and Schumm.

Weathering and soil development: soil profiles and their fundamental role in the operation of hydrological and erosional processes, soil profiles development over time (vertical and lateral water movement), the study of chronosequences.

Links between soils and slopes: hydrology and erosion at the ground surface and within the soil profile, links between slope process and form.

Fluvial hillslope processes including mass movement: runoff production and hillslope erosion, processes of rainsplash and surface wash, shallow and deep-seated mass movement.

Drainage basins and sediment routing systems: the role of river action in shaping landscapes, different approaches to the study of drainage systems.

The impact of Quaternary environmental change on landscapes and geomorphological processes: Quaternary events involving frequent ice ages linked to changing orbit of the earth around the sun, climate change due to lowering of sea level (ocean circulation), vegetation change (altered albedo), variations in solar output and changes in atmospheric gases, vegetation change in the Holocene.