1. Geomorphology GLG362/598
Instructor: Kelin X. Whipple, ISTB4-777 (5-9508)
TA: Emily Zawacki, ISTB4-603
Office Hours – just make an appointment
Your Info (please jot down and hand in)
Year and Primary Interest (major/research focus)
Math/Physics/Geomorphology background
Software experience (ArcGIS, Excel, Matlab, SSH)
Own a laptop for in class use?
If yes, prefer local install Aps? Rec: bring to lab
Reminder LAB: 12:55-2:55 Wed in PSH461

2. Geomorphology GLG362/598 Process-based instruction.
Textbook is complementary. I do not survey different landscapes (desert, coastal, permafrost, alpine, etc): Hillslopes, Channels (glaciers), +/- Floodplains
Teach how to think about all landscapes
How to read a landscape, how to proceed with a quantitative analysis
Project-based course
Hydrology; Hillslopes and Channel Heads; Alluvial Fans; Fluvial Processes; Landscape Evolution
Project Reports (no exams)
Every other lab -- 4 page (single, 12 point) plus figures, maps, cross-sections, calculations.
START EARLY, STAY ON SCHEDULE

3. Geomorphology GLG362/598 Field Trips Practical Skills
Depart EARLY – 7:30am; We Provide Vehicles; No Make Ups
#1 Sept 8-9 (Camping); Flagstaff Volcanic Field
#2 Sept 30 (Sat); Verde River Hydraulics
Practical Skills
ArcGIS, Matlab/Excel, Jupyter Notebooks
Airphoto Interpretation/ Mapping Surficial Units
Surveying (basics)
Stream gaging
DEM Analysis
30% Grads: same exercises, different expectations

4. Geomorphology GLG362/598 Textbook Class Website (not Blackboard)
Geomorphology: The Mechanics and Chemistry of Landscapes, Anderson and Anderson, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Class Website (not Blackboard)
Motivations for Study of Surface Processes
First Wave Climate Science Completed: climate is changing, causes known
Second Wave Coming: what are consequences, how respond?
Landuse Change plausibly even more dramatic
Prediction: Need Quantitative Understanding of Processes / Record of Past Conditions/Responses
Earth System Response to Past Changes?
Seismic Hazard Assessment
Record of Past Conditions (Tectonics, Climate) Preserved in Landscapes: Long Term Landscape Evolution

5. Geomorphology GLG362/598 Labs
First Lab Wednesday, Rm H461
Topic is Landuse and Hydrology
Learn to Use ArcGIS
Lab 1 has 3 parts, Lab 1a deliverable due this Friday (nothing major – just need to keep pace with learning Arc)
The Weekend’s Homework
Read Chapter 1 (pg 3-9) and Essay on “Landscapes and Geologic History” by Allen (3p), posted on class website (
Class Discussion: Start with Written Questions, then please hand in your questions

7. Overview/Guidelines (Chapter 1)
Many interacting processes: wind, rain, runoff, ice, heat/cool, freeze/thaw, chemical attack – all modualted by life; all event-driven, variable
Our Approach:
Conservation (of mass [water, sediment, atoms], energy, momentum)
Transport Rules (flow of water ice, transport of sediment, etc)
Event Size, Frequency and Duration (storms, floods, climate variations, etc)

9. Video of One Year’s Weather

10. Runoff vs Rainfall

20. Taiwan Geology and Topography – 3D

21. Taiwan Cross-sections

22. Taiwan Cross-sections

23. Taiwan Geology and Topography – 3D

24. Sandbox Experiment, with Erosion
“Erode” (slice with a knife) to maintain a critical taper

25. Orogenic WedgeTheory: Strong Climate-Tectonics Coupling
Mechanics of Deformation: Theory for Control of Orogen Width; Strain Concentration
Stolar et al, 2006 Penrose Volume

26. DESERT
JUNGLE
Deflected Rivers
~12m Annual Rainfall

27. TRMM Rainfall Map

28. Numerical Simulations: Strong Climate-Tectonics Coupling
Beaumont et al., 2001 Nature
Willett, 1999 JGR