Key Terms - Fluvial Geomorphology

This image shows the recently deposited Alluvium along the active channel interface, and provides an illustration for the following terms:

Geomorphology

The study of internal, or endogenous, and external, or exogenous, Degradational and constructional forces acting on a planet's surface to with the goal of understanding the development of Landforms.

Fluvial Geomorphology

The study of Valley and channel landform development as influenced by moving water such as rivers and Streams.

Geomorphologic Processes

Conceptual models of how Landforms are created have been postulated by earlier geomorphologists. William Morris Davis in 1902 postulated that Landforms are a function of rock structure and composition, processes acting on the rocks, and the extent of time that the processes have been active. Hack in 1960 built on the work of Gilbert to suggest an alternative to the Davisian model that de-emphasized the time component. Hack postulated the idea of dynamic equilibrium, acting at all times to balance energy, and maintain a sediment load representing work done on the landform.

Image courtesy of NRCS TN