Journal articles on the topic 'Geomorphologie / Geoarchaeology'

The historiographical article is devoted to the analysis of the 70-year history and development of the Kyiv University Earth Sciences and Geomorphology Department and the formation of its educational, scientific and applied area activities. The presented list of educational and research areas and description of their essential principles testifies not only to the existence of certain stages in the department history, but also to formation of trends in scientific preferences of the teaching and research staff. Over the course of the Department’s work many theoretical and practical aspects of Earth Sciences have been developed including general and theoretical geomorphology, geomorphological mapping and zoning, Quaternary sedimentology and palaeogeography, structural geomorphology and morphostructural analysis, engineering and anthropogenic geomorphology, palaeogeomorphology and ecology, scientific principles of remote and expeditionary relief research. Modern applied scientific and educational areas of the Department are geomorphology and nature tourism (geotourism), and soil science, land management and spatial planning. The development of scientific principles of nature tourism as a factor of sustainable development will not only spread the scientific worldview, understanding of the society laws and environmental ideas, but will also attract national and foreign investment, facilitate the development of territorial communities and tourism as a highly profitable sector of Ukraine's economy. Soil science, land management and spatial planning as areas of theoretical and applied geographical research are crucial to meet the current challenges of decentralization and land reform. It covers the development of multi-level spatial planning methodologies for sustainable spatial development, methods of scientific substantiation of urban projects, land management project planning, soil protection measures, engineering protection of the territory to create a favourable human habitat, preservation of landscape diversity and natural and cultural heritage. In recent years, the research interests of the Department have also included management of eco-projects and geoarchaeological studies, which were formed on multidisciplinary approaches and provide a thorough scientific and practical base for training of future professionals. Key words: Kyiv University Earth Sciences and Geomorphology Department; palaeogeomorphology; ecological geomorphology; morphostructural analysis; nature tourism; soil science; land management; spatial planning; eco-project management; geoarchaeology.

AbstractLate Quaternary terraces and sediments in the Holy Cross Mountain region of Poland, emplaced within an environment that had evolved following multiple Pleistocene glaciations, provide evidence of increasing anthropogenic influence on landscape development since the Middle Ages, as revealed by research in the Kamionka, Kamienna, Czarna Konecka, and Nida valleys. The development of the “anthropogenic small-scale water retention system” (ASWRS), including numerous artificial ponds, channels, and forges and mills along the watercourses, resulted in changes in river patterns, with additional anthropogenic channels, which in turn reduced the maximum flood-stage levels during the Little Ice Age. With the collapse of the industries and the disappearance of the ASWRS, several major flood events took place. Unknown in the earlier Holocene, and caused by hydrotechnical failures, the geomorphic effects of these catastrophic flash floods significantly exceeded those of natural processes.

El Olivo Cave (Pruvia de Arriba, Llanera, Asturias, Spain) is a small karst cave located in the Aboño River basin and formed in the Cretaceous limestone of the Mesozoic cover of the Cantabrian Mountains (north of the Iberian Peninsula). It contains an important upper Pleistocene sedimentary, archaeological, and paleontological record, with abundant technological evidence and faunal remains. The archaeological record shows a first occupation that could correspond to the Middle Paleolithic and a second occupation in the Middle Magdalenian. The stratigraphic sequence inside and outside the cave was studied with geoarchaeological methodology. In this paper, the lithostratigraphic sequence is analyzed, and the data from the granulometric, mineralogical, edaphological, and radiometric analyses are presented. The results of these analyses enable an accurate interpretation of both the lithostratigraphy of the deposit and the processes responsible for its formation and subsequent evolution. The available numerical dates allow us to locate the first sedimentation episode in the cave in OIS 7a, in the Middle Pleistocene, the base of the outer fluvial sedimentation in the cold OIS 3a stage of the Upper Pleistocene and the Magdalenian occupation in the Last Glacial Maximum (OIS 2) at the end of the Late Pleistocene.

RESUMEN La bahía de Cádiz, donde desemboca el río Guadalete, en el suroeste de la península ibérica, es un espacio privilegiado para estudiar los cambios antrópicos y naturales a lo largo del tiempo, gracias a diversos procesos de transformación y una rica cartografía histórica. El Guadalete era navegable desde época romana, formando un amplio estuario que se fue colmatando paulatinamente. Para época medieval la documentación archivística testimonia la dificultad que tenían los barcos ligeros para remontar el río y alcanzar el puerto fluvial de El Portal, emplazamiento clave para la comercialización de vinos de Jerez de la Frontera. En este artículo modelamos el paisaje de la cuenca baja del Guadalete, analizando los procesos que influencian su cegamiento. Para ello, recurrimos a la creación de un modelo digital del terreno a partir de datos LiDAR (light detection and ranging). Proponemos un método para la restitución de la topografía en un momento histórico determinado, el uso de cartografía histórica para establecer la deriva del cauce del río y un análisis de los condicionantes naturales (geología, hidrología, mareas, eventos catastróficos) y antrópicos (molinos, salinas, lastre de los barcos) que condicionaron la navegabilidad. Palabras clave: navegación fluvial, SIG, LiDAR, modelado del paisajeTopónimos: río Guadalete, bahía de CádizPeriodo: siglos xv-xviii ABSTRACTThe Bay of Cadiz, where the Guadalete River flows into the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, is a privileged area for studying anthropic and natural changes over time, thanks to various transformation processes and its rich historical cartography. The river was navigable from Roman times, forming a wide estuary that gradually silted up. In medieval times, archival documentation attests to the difficulty of crossing the river with light boats to reach El Portal Port, for the commercialization of Jerez de la Frontera wines. In this article, we model the landscape of the lower basin of the Guadalete, analysing the processes that influence its clogging. To do so, we resort to the creation of a Digital Terrain Model from LiDAR data. We propose a method for the restitution of the topography at a given historical moment, the use of historical cartography to establish the drift of the riverbed and an analysis of the natural (geology, hydrology, tides, catastrophic events) and anthropic (mills, salt works, ship ballast) factors that conditioned its navigability. Keywords: fluvial navigation, GIS, LiDAR, landscape modelling Place names: Guadalete River, Bay of CadizPeriod: 15th-18th centuries REFERENCIASAlonso Villalobos, C., Gracia Prieto, J., Rodríguez Polo, S., Martín Puertas, C. M. 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AbstractThis chapter reviews the various developments in Geomorphology in terms of institutions, journals, textbooks, research stations, etc. Among the institutions discussed are: the Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium, the Geological Society of America Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division, the Association of American Geographers Geomorphology Specialty Group, the British Geomorphological Research Group, the IGU Commission on Measurements and Theory Application in Geomorphology (COMTAG), the International Association of Geomorphologists, the European Geosciences Union, the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the International Quaternary Association, and the International Conference on Aeolian Research. Many countries established their own national bodies. A number of new journals appeared, including Catena, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, Géomorphologie, and Geomorphology. In addition, during the closing decades of the twentieth century there was a proliferation of textbooks in geomorphology. One development was that geomorphological research was promoted by the establishment of research stations. These permitted long-term monitoring and provided bases for sustained investigations. The study of fluvial processes was much encouraged in the United States at USDA Forest Service research basins (known as “watersheds” in the USA) such as the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (New Hampshire), Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory (North Carolina) and the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest (Oregon). The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) organised ambitious research projects in collaboration with host nations. Various US government departments supported much geomorphological research in various parts of the world. Some European countries fostered overseas geomorphological research and created missions. Notable was the work of ORSTOM (Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-mer) in former francophone colonies. In the post-war years, and as independence approached and then occurred, new universities were established in Africa. These employed expatriate geomorphologists and also trained up a new generation of indigenous scholars. The decades since the 1960s have been a period of space exploration and the development of remote sensing. This has had important implications for Geomorphology. The period also saw the onset of the digital age and the beginning of the World Wide Web's influence on teaching and research. Applied research became increasingly important. A major cause for international and cross-disciplinary co-operation during the period was the emergence of Geoarchaeology. Finally, since the 1950s, an increasing number of women have made important contributions to the discipline.

AbstractThe formal beginning of geoarchaeology in India can be traced back to 1863 when the first Palaeolith was documented and collected by Robert Bruce Foote in Tamil Nadu and later described in a detailed geological context. Today, various geological tools such as geospatial analytical tools are available to provide extra mileage to geoarchaeological investigations. They supplement field evidence and enable researchers to display, manipulate, and model geological data and the associated archaeological evidence. The present paper attempts to summarise the current status of understanding the Quaternary geoarchaeology of the Tapi River basin in west-central India. The aspects considered include geomorphology, landform evolution, morphometric parameters, relationships between climate and basin evolution, and Palaeolithic and Mesolithic evidence. This present study uses Landsat imagery, locational data, Survey of India (SOI) topographic sheets and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data in ArcGIS software. The study is the first comprehensive attempt to summarise the issue of prehistoric human adaptations (dominated mainly by Late Pleistocene evidence) through changing environments, with an assumption that the two occurred in synchronisation. Another assumption is that the reported lithic and fossil sites and the surrounding areas have preserved signatures of original landforms and sedimentary contexts.Through these perspectives and visual integration of topography, drainage networks and Landsat image parameters in a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform, along with other variable field inputs, a testable hypothetical model of the Quaternary evolution of Central Tapi valley is proposed. Additionally, an AMS date of 47,145 cal BP for a newly-discovered ostrich eggshell fragment from Sakegaon near Bhusawal is presented and its palaeoanthropological implications are discussed. Altogether, our observations from the study area, such as an expansion of land use from the Acheulean onwards, signatures of arid phases and the oldest reported ostrich eggshell (OES), warrant further detailed multidisciplinary research. An in-depth understanding of the first-to-last occurrences of ostriches in the region and comprehensive picture of their pan- South Asian distribution, in general, will help address the issue of prehistoric human adaptations through changing environments.

The natural environment and prehistoric human activity in the Holocene floodplains of the Low Volga River and in the southern Urals are important research objects in geomorphology, soil science and archaeology. The alternating sequences of soil-alluvium sequences represent a sedimentary archive with chrono-stratigraphic records of human land use, sediment accumulation and soil formation. The central floodplain of the Derkul River (western Kazakhstan) was studied using the multiproxy approach to investigate the soil-alluvium sequence dating from 8000 years ago until the present and containing a buried Stagnic Fluvic Phaeozem. Alluvial deposition began with stream sedimentation in the early Holocene, followed by a prolonged period of soil formation under low water conditions (7.5–5.7 ka cal year BP). Humans started habitation the floodplain in 6.6–5.7 ka cal year BP. Increased atmospheric precipitation in 5.7–3.4 ka cal year BP accelerated alluvial sedimentation. Soil formation followed the synsedimentation model. Conditions for the stationary land use by humans in the floodplain were less optimal. In 3.4–2.1 ka cal year BP, alluvial sedimentation was less pronounced, and solonetz carbonated soils were formed, reflecting increased climate aridity and continentality. Humans returned to the floodplain area, but in 2.1–1.9 ka cal year BP, the flooding frequency increased, and in 1.9 ka cal year BP, the surface of the floodplain passes to function in a high floodplain. Thus, synsedimentation formation resumed, with colluvium discharge from the adjacent hills being the main source of material input.

AbstractThe Sonar River Valley is centrally located in Madhya Pradesh, flanked by rich Palaeolithic and fossiliferous localities in the Son and Narmada valleys and has historically been overlooked in favour of the latter rivers, which tend to preserve well-stratified Quaternary formations along varying portions of their length. Here an attempt is made to look at the Sonar Basin through a broader lens, examining the various landforms found in the district of Damoh through which the Sonar flows before joining the Ken. The objective of this paper is threefold: to bring together the geomorphology of the area both in association with and as a result of fluvial action but also as a product of other geomorphic processes; to understand the consequences these processes have for the visibility of the prehistoric archaeological record within the region; and to look at this geoarchaeological relationship in the wider context of some of the major river basins in Madhya Pradesh, notably the Son and Narmada. Secondary sources on geology and geoarchaeology have been integrated with preliminary fieldwork in Districts Damoh and Narsinghpur, and to a smaller extent in Sagar, Chhatarpur and Panna. This work demonstrates the complexity of the South Asian Palaeolithic record that stretches beyond fluvial contexts, in turn helping to spatially expand our understanding of hominin behaviour beyond narrow riverine corridors.