Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I The Tropical Environment
- Part II Process geomorphology in the tropics
- Part III Anthropogenic changes
- 17 Anthropogenic alteration of geomorphic processes in the tropics
- 18 Urban geomorphology in the tropics
- 19 The future with climate change
- References
- Index
- Plate section
18 - Urban geomorphology in the tropics
from Part III - Anthropogenic changes
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I The Tropical Environment
- Part II Process geomorphology in the tropics
- Part III Anthropogenic changes
- 17 Anthropogenic alteration of geomorphic processes in the tropics
- 18 Urban geomorphology in the tropics
- 19 The future with climate change
- References
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
The mountain held the town as in a shadow.
Robert FrostIntroduction to urban geomorphology
Urban geomorphology evaluates the impact of urbanisation on landforms and the ambient geomorphological processes of an area. It focuses on alterations to the physical environment caused by the spread of towns and cities. Urban geomorphology developed from a number of case studies in the developed countries (mainly the United States) in the 1950s and 1960s. Wolman (1967) structured a three-stage sequence of changes in an area undergoing urbanisation:
Stage 1. Pre-Urban: land under natural vegetation or agriculture; river channels adjusted to existing conditions.
Stage 2. Brief period of construction: land stripped bare; soil and weathered material disturbed; extensive erosion; channels receiving large quantities of sediment; channels in disequilibrium.
Stage 3. Post-construction urban landscape: impervious surfaces of streets, parking lots, rooftops, etc; concrete drains and sewers replacing natural drainage to streams; insignificant erosion and sediment supply to channels; river channels still in disequilibrium but over time may adjust to new conditions or persist in a state of disequilibrium.
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- Information
- Tropical Geomorphology , pp. 325 - 341Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011