Abstract
The teaching of geomorphic processes in American education has historically neglected the interrelationships of climate and landforms. Particularly at the introductory level of physical geography courses, there is a need to accentuate that current landscape features and residual or buried morphologies, including the soil mantle, contain evidence of climatic change. Climatic processes, surface biota, underlying geology, and the locally-dominant set of geomorphic processes coalesce in the surface layer, known as the solum, to reveal the recent geomorphic history. Soil profiles are useful illustrative devices in introducing the concept of morphogenetic regions and in comparing between regions the dynamic interplay of climate, vegetation, surface material, and slope. In fact, an introduction to soil morphology and genesis may be the best pedagogical means of making the transition from climatological to geomorphic topics in introductory physical geography courses.
Recommended Citation
Plondke, Donald L.
(1988)
"Soil Profiles as Instructional Aids in the Introduction of Climatic Geomorphology,"
The Geographical Bulletin: Vol. 30:
Iss.
1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/thegeographicalbulletin/vol30/iss1/4