Editing Geomorphology (section)

=== Quantitative and process geomorphology ===
[[File:South Africa-Mpumalanga-Gods Window002.jpg|thumb|Part of the [[Great Escarpment, Southern Africa|Great Escarpment]] in the [[Drakensberg]], southern Africa. This landscape, with its high altitude [[plateau]] being incised into by the steep slopes of the escarpment, was cited by Davis as a classic example of his [[cycle of erosion]].<ref>Burke, Kevin, and Yanni Gunnell. "The African erosion surface: a continental-scale synthesis of geomorphology, tectonics, and environmental change over the past 180 million years." Geological Society of America Memoirs 201 (2008): 1–66.</ref>]]
Geomorphology was started to be put on a solid quantitative footing in the middle of the 20th century. Following the early work of [[Grove Karl Gilbert]] around the turn of the 20th century,<ref name='Bierman' /><ref name='OldroydGrapes' /><ref name= 'Ritter' /> a group of mainly American natural scientists, [[geologists]] and [[hydraulic engineers]] including [[William Walden Rubey]], [[Ralph Alger Bagnold]], [[Hans Albert Einstein]], [[Frank Ahnert]], [[John Tilton Hack|John Hack]], [[Luna Leopold]], [[Shields parameter|A. Shields]], [[Thomas Maddock (scientist)|Thomas Maddock]], [[Arthur Strahler]], [[Stanley Schumm]], and [[Ronald Shreve]] began to research the form of landscape elements such as [[river]]s and [[mass wasting|hillslopes]] by taking systematic, direct, quantitative measurements of aspects of them and investigating the [[Scaling law|scaling]] of these measurements.<ref name='Bierman' /><ref name='OldroydGrapes' /><ref name='Ritter' /><ref>{{cite web|title=Memorial to Stanley A. Schumm (1927–2011) |publisher=[[The Geological Society of America]] |url=https://www.geosociety.org/documents/gsa/memorials/v41/Schumm-S.pdf |first1=Frank G. |last1=Ethridge |first2=Ellen |last2=Wohl |first3=Allen |last3=Gellis |first4=Dru |last4=Germanoski |first5=Ben R. |last5=Hayes |first6=Shunji |last6=Ouchi |work=Memorials |volume=41 |date=December 2012}}</ref> These methods began to allow prediction of the past and future behavior of landscapes from present observations, and were later to develop into the modern trend of a highly quantitative approach to geomorphic problems. Many groundbreaking and widely cited early geomorphology studies appeared in the [[Bulletin of the Geological Society of America]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Morisawa |first=Marie |date=1988-07-01 |title=The Geological Society of America Bulletin and the development of quantitative geomorphology |journal=[[GSA Bulletin]] |language=en |volume=100 |issue=7 |pages=1016–1022 |doi=10.1130/0016-7606(1988)100<1016:TGSOAB>2.3.CO;2 |issn=0016-7606 |bibcode=1988GSAB..100.1016M}}</ref> and received only few citations prior to 2000 (they are examples of [[Paper with delayed recognition|"sleeping beauties"]])<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Goldstein|first=Evan B|date=2017-04-17|title=Delayed recognition of geomorphology papers in the Geological Society of America Bulletin|journal=Progress in Physical Geography|language=en|volume=41|issue=3|pages=363–368|doi=10.1177/0309133317703093|bibcode=2017PrPG...41..363G |s2cid=132521098|url=http://eartharxiv.org/bnshx/|access-date=2019-01-19|archive-date=2020-08-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807152046/https://eartharxiv.org/bnshx/|url-status=dead}}</ref> when a marked increase in quantitative geomorphology research occurred.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Church |first=Michael |date=2010-06-01 |title=The trajectory of geomorphology |journal=[[Progress in Physical Geography]] |language=en |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=265–286 |doi=10.1177/0309133310363992 |bibcode=2010PrPG...34..265C |s2cid=140160085 |issn=0309-1333}}</ref>

Quantitative geomorphology can involve [[fluid dynamics]] and [[solid mechanics]], [[geomorphometry]], laboratory studies, field measurements, theoretical work, and full [[landscape evolution model]]ing. These approaches are used to understand [[weathering]] and [[pedogenesis|the formation of soils]], [[sediment transport]], landscape change, and the interactions between climate, tectonics, erosion, and deposition.<ref name = orogens>{{Cite journal |last=Whipple |first=Kelin X. |date=2004-04-21 |title=Bedrock rivers and the geomorphology of active orogens |journal=[[Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences]] |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=151–185 |doi=10.1146/annurev.earth.32.101802.120356 |issn=0084-6597 |url=http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/AGUC/article/view/60473 |bibcode=2004AREPS..32..151W}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Merritts |first1=Dorothy J. |last2=Tucker |first2=Gregory E. |last3=Whipple |first3=Kelin X. |last4=Snyder |first4=Noah P. |s2cid=5844478 |date=2000-08-01 |title=Landscape response to tectonic forcing: Digital elevation model analysis of stream profiles in the Mendocino triple junction region, northern California |journal=[[GSA Bulletin]] |language=en |volume=112 |issue=8 |pages=1250–1263 |doi= 10.1130/0016-7606(2000)112<1250:LRTTFD>2.0.CO;2 |issn=0016-7606 |bibcode=2000GSAB..112.1250S}}</ref>

In Sweden [[Filip Hjulström]]'s doctoral thesis, "The River Fyris" (1935), contained one of the first quantitative studies of geomorphological processes ever published. His students followed in the same vein, making quantitative studies of mass transport ([[Anders Rapp]]), fluvial transport ([[Åke Sundborg]]), delta deposition ([[Valter Axelsson]]), and coastal processes ([[John O. Norrman]]). This developed into "the [[Uppsala University|Uppsala]] School of [[Physical Geography]]".<ref>Gregory, KJ, 1985: "The Nature of Physical Geography", E. Arnold</ref>