Landscape of Transition

by Hewitt, Kenneth; Byrne, Mary-Louise; English, Michael; Young, Gordon

• ISBN13: 9781402006630
• ISBN10: 1402006632
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-08-01
• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Pub

Summary

This volume is mainly concerned with landform and sediment associations in cold regions, and their transformations over time and space in response to changing environments. Most of the chapters adopt a landscape approach, with the goal of describing, interpreting and comparing regional landscapes. The emphasis here is on landscapes that are formed or constrained by cold conditions. In particular, we look at landform morphology, earth surface processes and sediments reflecting the presence of frost, ice and melt water, and the influence upon landscape of cold-adapted plants and animals. The notion of 'transition' is employed to address the ways in which environmental changes are uniquely expressed through adjustments in landforms and earth surface processes. It is shown that geomorphic transitions have, or tend to, generate their own temporal and spatial shape. They involve mechanisms or patterns of adjustment distinct from, and not readily obvious in, the mere chronology of, say, climate change or tectonics. Examples are discussed from high mountain and glacierized environments, from cold lowlands and coasts. Appropriate theoretical concerns are addressed in relation to the slope stability and extreme mass movement events, paraglacial regimes, changing distributions of permafrost, delta and other cold coastal development.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction, Kenneth Hewitt	1
PART ONE
GLACIAL AND HIGH MOUNTAIN ENVIRONMENTS	9	(110)
CHAPTER ONE
Development of Landform and Sediment Assemblages at Maritime High-arctic Glaciers
Michael J. Hambrey and Neil F. Glasser	11	(32)
CHAPTER TWO
Proglacial and Paraglacial Fluvial and Lacustrine Environments in Transition
Peter G. Johnson	43	(20)
CHAPTER THREE
Postglacial Landform and Sediment Associations in a Landslide
fragmented River System: the TransHimalayan Indus Streams,
Central Asia
Kenneth Hewitt	63	(30)
CHAPTER FOUR
Fluvial Sediment Transfer in Cold Regions
Michael Church	93	(28)
PART TWO
COLD LOWLAND AND COASTAL ENVIRONMENTS	119
CHAPTER FIVE
Where on Earth is Permafrost? Boundaries and Transitions
Michael W. Smith and Dan W. Riseborough	121	(20)
CHAPTER SIX
Typical Aspects of Cold Regions Shorelines
Mary-Louise Byrne and Jean-Claude Dionne	141	(18)
CHAPTER SEVEN
Landform Development in an Arctic Delta: The Roles of Snow, Ice and Permafrost
H. Jesse Walker	159	(26)
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Search for an Arctic Coastal Karren Model in Norway and Spitzbergen
Joyce Lundberg and Stein-Erik Lauritzen	185	(20)
CHAPTER NINE
Sedimentary Characteristics, Biological Zonation and Physical
Processes of the Tidal Flats of Iqaluit, Nunavut
Janis E. Dale, Shannon Leech, S. Brian McCann and Glenda Samuelson	205