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1 - Introduction to the Anthropocene and Anthropogeomorphology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2016

Andrew S. Goudie
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Heather A. Viles
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

Humans have modified landforms and the processes which formed them during the Anthropocene. It is apparent that in coming centuries a combination of population increases, land cover changes, climatic changes, and new technologies will increase this force still further. One of the great debates surrounding the Anthropocene is when it started and whether it should be regarded as a formal stratigraphic unit with the same rank as the Holocene. Geomorphological change is an important component of the Anthropocene, though its effects will have varied greatly in space and time and it is often neglected in accounts of human impacts on the Earth system. Humans will continue to modify their environment in coming decades. New technologies will be developed and applied and increasing human population levels will lead to further changes in land cover and in the exploitation of natural resources. Anthropogeomorphology, or the study of humans’ role in shaping landforms and influencing geomorphic processes, is a long-established field of research. Human impacts can be direct and deliberate, but are often inadvertent and indirect. Anthropogeomorphological research provides important evidence of how humans are creating the Anthropocene. There is a two way relationship between geomorphology and the Anthropocene.
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2016

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