GES3530

Landscape processes

(ART)

Associate Professor David Dunkerley

6 points + 9 day intensive field-based unit, approximately 3 hours lectures and 3.5 hour fieldwork per day at a desert location. + Flexible delivery during second semester + Prerequisites: 16 points of second-year geography or permission (GES2210 strongly recommended)

Synopsis: Considers hydrologic and erosional processes affecting landscapes generally, including splash, surface runoff, interrill, rill, tunnel and gully erosion. The 'landscape ecology' approach is stressed, emphasising the need to develop an integrated view of landscape function that recognises links between hydrologic and erosional processes and the nature and spatial distribution of biota, including vascular and non-vascular plants, and soil fauna. Field interpretation and analysis skills form the focus for afternoons of fieldwork (e.g. estimating flood sizes, patterns of hillslope erosion). Mapping, sampling, and analytical methods are introduced.

Assessment: Written fieldtrip report (5000 words): 100%