Physical Geography and Principles of Geomorphology
Professor: Elvidio Lupia Palmieri
Department of Earth Science, 1st floor, room
06/49914805
e-mail: elvidio.lupiapalmieri@uniroma1.it
Student target: 3rd year, three-years degree
Level of Unit: advanced
Prerequisite: basic knowledge of General Geography and Geology
Credits: 9
216, phone
Contents
Physical Geography and its fields of investigation. Aims and methods; relations with General Geography and
Geology.
Geomorphology. Aims and methods. Endogenous and exogenous morphogenetic agents. Erosion, tran sport and
deposition processes.
Relation between climate and relief morphology. Morphoclimatic zones and systems. Morphogenetic groups.
Biorhexistasy and rhexistasy. Landforms and Quaternary climatic changes.
Weathering. Physical weathering; chemical weathering; weathering and activity by organism. Weathering
products; regolite and soil; paleosol. Landforms due to weathering; the role of geological condition on weathering
processes; the role of vegetation cover.
Mass wasting. Denudation processes. Soil creep and solifluction. Talus cones. Landslides; landslides
classification. Main causes and factors of slope instability.
Surface running waters and their morphogenetic action. Rainwash factors and processes. Earth pyramids;
calanchi and badlands. Slope shape and evolution. Accelerated soil erosion.
Channelled waters. Streams and hydrographic systems. Drainage basins and hydrogeological basins. Fluvial
discharge and regime. Hydrological balance. Channelled waters movements and speed; stream energy. Solid
discharge. Relation between stream speed and fluvial erosion-transport-deposition.
Fluvial Geomorphology. Fluvial dynamics and channel characteristics. Erosional processes and landforms;
fluvial erosion propagation; stream longitudinal profile, graded stream and stream base level. Depositional
processes and landforms; alluvial fans; floodplains. Meanders. River valleys: origin, evolution and shapes. Fluvial
terraces.
Planation surfaces. Fluvial cycle of erosion; peneplain. Arid cycle; pediment e pedeplanation.
Drainage pattern. Stream diversion; stream piracy. Relations between drainage patterns and geological
arrangement. Antecedence and superposition. Quantitative geomorphic analysis of drainage networks.
Glaciers and Glacial Geomorphology. Present-day and Pleistocene glaciers. Types of glaciers: morphology and
physical properties based classifications. Snow line; glacial accumulation and ablation; glacial budget. Glacier
movements. Lateral erosion and landforms: roche moutonée, cirque, glacial valleys and their characters; fiords.
Glacial transport and deposition: moraine. Fluvio-glacial deposits. Glacial landscapes.
Periglacial environment. Cryonival processes. Frozen ground; permafrost. Permafrost related landscapes.
Cryoturbation and gelifluction. Patterned ground. Nivation processes; snow avalanche.
Karst and Karst morphology. Karst and climate. Surface lamdforms: Karren, doline, uvala, polje, Karst valley.
Karstic landform origin and evolution in relation to structural conditions. Karst hydrology, karst base level.
Speleogenesis: shafts and galleries. Cave deposits. Evolution of Karst landscape.
Aeolian Geomorphology. Wind action; deflation and sandblasting. Hamada and serir; sebkha. Depositional
landforms; dune and dune evolution; loess. Erg.
Sea movements and Coastal Geomorphology. Waves. Wave refraction, diffraction and reflection; longshore
current and rip current. Other factors and processes of littoral morphogenesis. Sea erosion; sea cliff and wave-cut
terraces. Evolution of rocky coasts. Beaches; longshore drift and beach evolution. Sand bars. Lagoon and coastal
lakes. Delta and estuaries. Changes of level of sea-land edge; marine terraces. Beach erosion in Italy
Relationships between morphology and geological structure. Differential erosion. Structural surfaces. Table
mountains (mesas); monoclinal reliefs, cuestas. Geomorphological evidence of tectonics. Fault scarps and fault-line
scarps; rifts. Foldbelts. Jurassian relief and Appalachian relief.
Volcanic landscape. Main landforms due to volcanic activity. Volcanic relifs. Erosional landforms on volcanic
reliefs. Short account on volcanoes of Italy.
The influence of human activities on landscape evolution. General discussion
Reading and interpreting topographic and geomorphological maps (exercises).
Skills acquisition and expected learning outcomes
Knowledge of the agents and mechanisms of the exogenous morphogenetic processes and of their relationships
with climate and structural conditions.
Knowledge of relief landforms deriving from exogenous morphogenetic processes.
Skill in reconstructing the past morphological evolution of Earth relief and in predicting its future evolution
Skill in reading and interpreting landforms on the basis of topographic maps examination; comprehension of the
morphological evolution of relief on the basis of morphological maps interpretation. Skill in doing interpretative
morphological profiles.
CONTENT
Hours in
classroom
Relations
between Ex cathedra
8
climate and morphology. teaching
Weathering
Mass wasting.
Surface running waters
and their morphogenetic
action.
Channelled waters and
fluvial Geomorphology
Planation surfaces.
Problems of drainage
patterns.
Glaciers and glacial
Geomorphology
Periglacial environment.
Karst
and
karst
morphology.
Aeolian
Geomorphology.
Sea movements and
coastal Geomorphology.
Relations
between
morphology
and
geological structure.
Volcanic landscape.
The influence of human
activities on landscape
evolution.
Reading and interpreting
topographic and
geomorphological maps
Total
Hours at home Total hours
17
25
Ex cathedra
teaching
8
17
25
Ex cathedra
teaching
8
17
25
Ex cathedra
teaching
Ex cathedra
teaching
Ex cathedra
teaching
Lezioni
frontali
8
17
25
4
8,5
12,5
8
17
25
8
17
25
Ex cathedra
teaching
4
8,5
12,5
Exercises
22
28
50
78
147
225
Check of results
Final evaluation
It will include:
- a practical test about the reading and interpretation of topographic and geomorphological
- an oral test to verify the knowlwdge and skills acquired by the student.
Textbook
CASTIGLIONI (1991). Geomorfologia. UTET, Torino.
CIABATTI M. (1982). Elementi di idrologia superficiale. CLUEB, Bologna.
LUPIA PALMIERI E., PAROTTO M (2008). Il globo terrestre e la sua evoluzione. Zanichelli, Bologna.
6a edizione.