Editorial: Applied Geomorphological Mapping

Monday, 13 April, 2009

Paron, P. and Smith, M.J. (2008)
Journal of Maps, v2008, 197-200.


Mapping forms and deposits, and inferring processes, of a landscape is a very complex exercise (Demek, 1982). Its difficulty lies, on the one hand, in the challenge of identifying the processes themselves, their spatial and temporal extent (including the magnitude of activity) and the underlying base rocks (both in the field and through desk based analysis) and, on the other hand, the implementation of effective cartographic representation. General geomorphological maps are often driven by the need to understand the evolution of a portion of the landscape and a need to forecast future evolutionary trends. They have thus become a major research instrument in their own right (Hayden, 1986). Applied geomorphological mapping has to consider the evolution of the area under investigation, even if the specific objectives are more limited.

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