Global Controls on the Catchment and Coast

The catchment and coast is an integrated system with water and sediment routing; nutrients; feedbacks and biodiversity all connected/influenced by the system. Understanding landscape processes is fundamental for fully understanding the Earth system and enabling improved environmental management.

Geomorphology as an eclectic science studies the origin and development of landforms, and how these forms combine to form landscapes. Its study helps explain how landscapes have developed in the past, function in the present and how they may change in the future. Such knowledge may then be used for environmental engineering, geological understanding, environmental policy and management; even archaeologists are interested to understand how erosional and depositional processes may influence artefact preservation.

1. Landscapes are shaped by movements of mass - rock, sediment or water. 
2. Landscape-shaping is influenced by multiple factors - tectonic, climatic, ecological 
3. Landscape processes operate at different temporal and spatial scales.
4. The Earth landscapes are dynamic. 
5. Landscape dynamics are complex - internal readjustments occur with changing conditions.
6. Landscapes are archives of the past and contain histories of their development.
7. Atmospheric warming and sea level rise is influencing landscape dynamics. 
8. Human activities are a geomorphic force, influencing the landscape dynamics. 
9. The Earth landscapes are becoming more hazardous; with greater population? 
10. Successful environmental management requires geomorphological knowledge.