Preface .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Prologue: Why Physical Geography? ........................................................................................... 7
Part I: Earth history and climate ................................................................................................... 10
Chapter 1: Geological time ............................................................................................................ 10
Entropy ............................................................................................................................................ 10
No sight of a beginning, no sight of an end .......................................................................... 11
Earths origin story ...................................................................................................................... 14
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 16
Chapter 2: Earths internal heat engine ...................................................................................... 18
Paradigms and shifting science ............................................................................................... 18
Plate tectonics ............................................................................................................................... 19
Isostasy ........................................................................................................................................... 22
Supercontinents again ................................................................................................................ 23
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 24
Chapter 3: Volcanoes ...................................................................................................................... 26
Distribution in space and time .................................................................................................. 26
All in the eruption ......................................................................................................................... 28
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 31
Chapter 4: Earths external heat engine ..................................................................................... 32
Source, receptor, and filter ........................................................................................................ 32
Earths heat engine ...................................................................................................................... 35
Earths air conditioning systems ............................................................................................. 42
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 42
Chapter 5: Climate change is normal .......................................................................................... 43
Climate and earth history ........................................................................................................... 43Evidence for Climate Change .................................................................................................... 45
Mechanisms of climate change ................................................................................................ 49
Landscape and land-sea distribution (1) ................................................................................ 50
Ocean basins (2) ........................................................................................................................... 51
Solar input (3) ................................................................................................................................ 52
Atmospheric content (4) ............................................................................................................. 53
Planetary-scale feedbacks ......................................................................................................... 55
Cenozoic climate change ........................................................................................................... 57
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Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 62
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 63
Part II: Shaping the landscape ...................................................................................................... 66
Chapter 6: The landscape beneath our feet .............................................................................. 66
Rocks and minerals ..................................................................................................................... 67
Natural decay ................................................................................................................................. 68
Soils ................................................................................................................................................. 73
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 76
Chapter 7: Gravity and slopes ...................................................................................................... 77
Forces on a clast(s), or rock slope .......................................................................................... 77
Mass movement ............................................................................................................................ 79
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 82
Chapter 8: Flowing water ............................................................................................................... 83
All about rain ................................................................................................................................. 83
Water on hillslopes ...................................................................................................................... 88
Surface hydrology ........................................................................................................................ 92
Channel flow .................................................................................................................................. 94
Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 100
Further reading ........................................................................................................................... 100
Chapter 9: Flowing Ice .................................................................................................................. 102
Physics of glaciers ..................................................................................................................... 103
Glacial erosion ............................................................................................................................ 106
Glacier transport ......................................................................................................................... 109
Depositional landsystems ........................................................................................................ 109
Further reading ........................................................................................................................... 113
Chapter 10: Coastal processes ................................................................................................... 115
Importance of tides .................................................................................................................... 116
Making waves .............................................................................................................................. 117
Dancing beaches ........................................................................................................................ 120
Cliffs, Shore Platforms and Erosion ...................................................................................... 123
Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 126
Further reading ........................................................................................................................... 126
Chapter 11: Landscapes around us .......................................................................................... 128
British Landscapes .................................................................................................................... 128
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Amazonia ...................................................................................................................................... 135
Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 136
Figure Sources ................................................................................................................................ 138
