ABSTRACT
Geomorphology, in the broadest sense, is the study of earth surface processes and resultant forms, be those forms erosional or depositional. Human land-use patterns have generated the need for geomorphic information because of obvious conflicts that arise with surficial processes. As the number of people on the planet continue to increase, greater knowledge of surficial processes is necessary to minimize the negative impact of these processes on human activity. At the beginning of this century simple, descriptive statements about form and process were derived from field observation whereas at present such observations have been supplemented with the addition of numerical data which are used in complex mathematical and statistical analyses to explain the dynamic surface (Morisawa, 1985). Straightforward observation and description has not been abandoned because remote regions, e.g. Tibet, the Andes Mountains, or the surface beneath the oceans, still represent frontiers for detailed geomorphological analyses as is well illustrated by Hewitt’s account of Karakoram geomorphology (Chapter 9).
