ABSTRACT
For geography students at school, glacial geomorphology is often ‘the’ geomorphology, or at least that which is most vivid. Through the use of physics, quantification came early to glacial geomorphology. The statistics-based ‘quantitative revolution’ had quite a different impact in the 1960s and produced numerical morphometry, i.e. description rather than explanation. Investigations into glacial geomorphology present some problems which may be rather different from other areas of geomorphology. Geomorphology traditionally sees the formation of the landscape in terms of gross changes through time, although ‘process studies’ have concentrated more and more upon small-scale mechanisms. A problem pervading much of glacial geomorphology is that of terminology. Problems can arise if a term becomes synonymous with a mechanism or process. An idea may be difficult to displace if it needs to be modified or replaced and this may mean that one model dominates the ‘explanation’ to the exclusion of others.
