|
 Weathering and Landscape Evolution
Weathering and Landscape Evolution
2004 Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium
October 1-3, 2004
Organizer/hosts:
Alice Turkington, Sean Campbell, Jonathan Phillips
Department of Geography,
University of Kentucky
RATIONALE AND TIMELINESS
Weathering processes are fundamental precursors to most forms of landscape denudation.
Weathering is central in the development of soils, regoliths, and weathering profiles, and is the dominant
landforming agent in many landscapes, such as karst areas and etchplains. On a smaller scale, weathering processes
produce many distinctive landforms on both rock outcrops and sediment bodies. As a result of the central role of
weathering in the rock cycle, and the necessity of weathering for most erosional and denudational processes,
weathering is, arguably, the most crucial and fundamental phenomena in landscape evolution and topographic development.
Further, our knowledge of weathering processes, their rates and the forms they produce is commonly invoked in
interpretations of past climatic conditions. Residual weathering features have informed us on both environmental
change and relative ages of exposed surfaces, paleosurfaces and sediments. Finally, knowledge of the weathering system
has increasingly been applied to problem-solving research, specifically in the context of conservation and preservation
of stone artifacts comprising our cultural heritage.
Geomorphologists specializing or dealing in weathering belong to a number of different communities,
defined in various ways; for example, geomorphic communities may deal with karst, arid environments,
arctic/alpine environments, tropical environments, soils and regoliths, granitic terrains, cultural stone decay and
conservation, laterites and ferricretes, solutes, landscape geochemistry, and geological interpretations of
regoliths and weathering profiles, to name a few.
The Binghamton symposium on Weathering and Landscape Evolution is broadly divided into three themes or sessions:
1. Weathering Processes
This group of papers would focus on the chemical, physical, and biological breakdown of geological material,
and on closely-related processes of solutional denudation, regolith formation, and stone decay.
2. Weathering-Dominated Landforms and Landscapes
This theme would focus on processes and forms in weathering-dominated situations such as karst and etchplains,
and on weathering-related landforms such as tafoni, bornhardts or solution basins.
3. Weathering Features as Geomorphic Indicators
Weathering-dominated landforms, regoliths and weathering profiles, and small or micro-scale weathering features
are often used for relative or absolute dating, as contemporary process or paleoenvironmental indicators, or
in geologic interpretations. This session would focus on these aspects of weathering geomorphology.
MEETING ORGANIZATION
This Binghamton symposium will be held in Lexington, Kentucky, on the University of Kentucky campus.
The proceedings will be published as a special issue of Geomorphology and will be available at the meeting.
INVITED SPEAKERS
We are seeking external funding to help cover the travel costs of invited participants from overseas.
Suzanne Anderson, University of Colorado
John Dixon, University of Arkansas
Ron Dorn, Arizona State University
Judy Ehlen, USACOE
Ralph Ewers, Eastern Kentucky University
Chris Groves, Western Kentucky University
K. Hall, University of British Columbia
Don Johnson, University of Illinois
Hugh Mills, Tennessee Tech University
Colin Pain, Australia
Tom Paradise, University of Arkansas
Greg Pope, Montclair State University
Bernie Smith, U.K.
Michael Thomas, U.K.
Colin Thorn, University of Illinois
Rowl Twidale, Australia
Heather Viles, U.K.
William White, Pennsylvania State University
|
