Geomorphology, Human Activity and Global Environmental Change

About this book

The purpose of this book is to demonstrate that the land-based geomorphological evidence of environmental change from late Pleistocene, Holocene, historical and contemporary time periods remain central to the understanding of environmental change both at the global and regional scale. It begins with a look at how global Pleistocene climate change affected placation and tectonic instability. The middle section then looks at environments unaffected by human activity in an attempt to explore scenarios that may result from climate change alone in the future. The final two sections look at human activity and global environmental change by monitoring floodplain stratigraphy, cartographic evidence, sediment transport, watershed studies and coastal surveys, and offer practical advice on land management issues. Includes case studies from Europe, North America and Asia.

Contents

List of Contributors. Preface and Acknowledgements. Section A Introduction. 1. Global Environmental Change: The Global Agenda. Olav Slaymaker. 1.1 The context of environmental change. 1.2 The geomorphological context. 1.3 The intellectual context: climate and people as the major forcing functions. 1.4 The role of the International Association of Geomorphologists. Section B Tectonics, Sea Level and Climate Forcing. Introduction. 2. Glacial Landforms in Taiwan and a Reinterpretation of the Last Glacial Snowline Depression. Margot Bose. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Previous work. 2.3 Methods. 2.4 Study areas. 2.5 Conclusions. 3. The Effects of Relative Sea Level Changes on the Coastal Morphology of Southern Apulia (Italy) during the Holocene. Michela Dini, Giuseppe Mastronuzzi and Paolo Sanso. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Geological and morphological setting. 3.3 Effects of Holocene relative sea level changes along rocky coasts. 3.4 Effects of Holocene sea level changes along main beaches. 3.5 Discussion. 3.6 Conclusions. 4. Estimating Pleistocene Tectonic Uplift Rates in the Southeastern Apennines (Italy) from Erosional Land Surfaces and Marine Terraces. Annalisa Amato. 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 The middle to upper Pleistocene marine terraces. 4.3 The early Pleistocene erosional land surfaces. 4.4 The tectonic uplift rates. 4.5 Conclusions. Section C Regional Hydrologic and Lacustrine Impacts of Global Environmental Change. Introduction. 5. Slope - Channel Linkage as a Control on Geomorphic Sensitivity in Alpine Basins, Cascade Mountains, British Columbia. Martin Evans. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Study site. 5.3 Holocene climate and vegetation records. 5.4 Sediment yield records. 5.5 Stratigraphy 101. 5.6 Sediment sourcing. 5.7 Discussion and conclusions. 6. A Holocene Debris-Flow Chronology for an Alpine Catchment, Colorado Front Range. Brian Menounos. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Methods. 6.3 Results. 6.4 The lacustrine record of debris-flow activity. 6.5 Correspondence between the lacustrine and terrestrial debris-flow records. 6.6 Discussion. 6.7 Climate controls on debris-flow activity. 6.8 Summary and conclusions. 7. Holocene Paleoenvironments in Central Spain Reconstructed by Sedimentological Investigation of Playa Lake Systems. Brigitta Schutt. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Methods. 7.3 Laguna de Gallocanta. 7.4 Las Planas de Bujaraloz. 7.5 La Mancha. 7.6 Conclusions. 8. Rainfall Increase, Land Use and Morphodynamic Changes in Northwestern Argentina as Indicators of the Effects of Future Climatic Changes. J.M. Sayago and M. Toledo. 8.1 Introduction. 8.2 Characteristics of the area under study. 8.3 Material and methods. 8.4 Results. 8.5 Discussion. 8.6 Conclusions. 9. Some Considerations Regarding Climatic Change and Specific Erosion in Central Italy. Walter Dragoni and Daniela Valigi. 9.1 Introduction. 9.2 Late Holocene climatic variations in central Italy. 9.3 Climate and soil erosion. 9.4 Estimate of variations in rain factors as a result of variations in rainfall. 9.5 Final considerations. Section D Human Activity and Global Environmental Change. Introduction. 10. Sensitivity of Fluvial Systems to Climate Change and Human Impact: A Case Study from Central Europe. Monika Igl, Roland Mausbacher, Heike Schneider and Jussi Baade. 10.1 Introduction. 10.2 Aims and objectives. 10.3 Investigation area. 10.4 Methods. 10.5 Results. 10.6 Discussion. 10.7 Conclusions. 11. Geomorphological Change on the Tsengwen Coastal Plain in Southwestern Taiwan. Jul-Chin Chang. 11.1 Introduction. 11.2 The change of coastline. 11.3 Change in sand dunes. 11.4 Change in river channel. 11.5 The evolution of Taichiang Lagoon. 11.6 The impact of geomorphological change on human activity. 11.7 Conclusions. 12. Environmental Impact of Land Use Change in the Inner Alentejo (Portugal) in the 20th century. Denise de Brum Ferreira. 12.1 Introduction. 12.2 Study area and procedures. 12.3 The socio-economic and climatic context of soil degradation in the montado landscape. 12.4 Land use change and soil erosion in the S. Pedro River and the Toutalga River watershed. 12.5 Final remarks. 13. Classification of Spatial and Temporal Changes to a Developed Barrier Island, Seven Mile Beach, New Jersey, USA. Nancy L. Jackson, Karl F. Nordstrom, Michael S. Bruno and Valerie L. Spalding. 13.1 Introduction. 13.2 Study area. 13.3 Methods. 13.4 Results. 13.5 Discussion and conclusions. 14. Impact of Human Activities on Geomorphic Processes in the Almora Region, Central Himalaya, India. J.S. Rawat, Geeta Rawat and S.P. Rai. 14.1 Introduction. 14.2 Study area. 14.3 Methodology. 14.4 Results. 14.5 Discussion. 14.6 Conclusions/recommendations. Section E Conclusion. 15. Reflections on the Actual and Potential Role of Geomorphology in Global Environmental Change Research. Olav Slaymaker. 15.1 What in the influence of climate on geomorphic systems?. 15.2 What is the influence of human activity on geomorphic systems?. 15.3 What is the relative contribution of cumulative processes compared with systemic processes in global environmental change and how do these conclusions influence the role of geomorphology in the global environmental change problematique?. Index

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