Fundamentals of geomorphology / Основы геоморфологии

The word geomorphology derives from three Greek words: γεω (the Earth), μoρφη (form), and λογος (discourse). Geomorphology is therefore ‘a discourse on Earth forms’. The term was coined sometime in the 1870s and 1880s to describe the morphology of the Earth’s surface (e.g. de Margerie 1886, 315), was originally defined as ‘the genetic study of topographic forms’ (McGee 1888, 547), and was used in popular parlance by 1896. Despite the modern acquisition of its name, geomorphology is a venerable discipline (Box 1.1). Today, geo morphology is the study of Earth’s physical land-surface features,  its landforms – rivers, hills, plains, beaches, sand dunes, and myriad others. Some workers include submarine landforms within the scope of geomorphology; and some would add the landforms of other terrestrial-type planets and satellites in the Solar System – Mars, the Moon, Venus, and so on.
Landforms are conspicuous features of the Earth and occur everywhere. They range in size from molehills to mountains to major tectonic plates, and their ‘lifespans’ range from days to
millennia to aeons (Figure 1.1). David Mark and Barry Smith (2004) listed twenty-six broad landform types, many of which have included sub types: basin, catchment, cave, cirque, cliff,
continent, crater, cut, earth surface, floodplain, gap, ground, ground surface, moraine, mount, mount range, peak, pinnacle, plain, plateau, ridge, ridge line, terrace, trough, and valley. Geomor - phology investigates landforms such as those and the processes that fashion them. <....>