GSG Announcements
Notes from the Chair "The Road Not Taken" - Bruce Rhoads
Awards, Prizes, Competitions:
    Student Paper Competition
    Gilbert and Distinguished Career Awards
    Jan De Ploey Award for Young Scientists
Meetings and Symposia:
    IV International Conference on Geomorphology
    1997 Binghamton Symposium: Engineering Geomorphology
    8th Congress Internat. Assn Engineering Geology
Field trips, Workshops and Camps:
    Juneau Icefield Research Program
    Geography of the West Field Camp: Basin & Range
    10th SEFOP (Southeastern Friends of the Pleistocene) Trip
    Beringian Paleoenvironments
Websites
AAG Sessions
Shameless Plugs
From the Editor
About Geomorphorum

 

The annual GSG business meeting will be held in Ft. Worth Texas on Thursday, April 3, 1997, 5:45 - 7:00 pm. If there is anything you would like to be sure to see on the agenda, contact our chairman, Bruce Rhoads (b-rhoads@uiuc.edu; voice: (217) 333-1322; fax (217) 244-1785).

The next GSG newsletter will come out in June, 1997. It will contain minutes of the April meeting and lots of news contributed by YOU (please send news, comments) to the GSG Secretary-Treasurer, Carol Harden (charden@utk.edu; voice: (423) 974-2418; fax: (423) 974-6025.  

NOTES FROM THE CHAIR - "The Road Not Taken"

The imminent dawn of a new century is providing the impetus for a spate of contemplation, speculation, and revelation about the future of humankind. In keeping with fashion, I will not resist temptation, but will take advantage of the opportunity afforded by this column to toss in my own two-cents worth concerning the future of geomorphology and of the Geomorphology Specialty Group (take note, however, of the value I assign to my comments). As I mentioned in the previous newsletter, the GSG has been growing. I assume that most of us view growth in a positive light and that a goal of the GSG should be to sustain this trend, perhaps at an increased rate of growth. The question then arises "What must we be or become to achieve this goal?" The number of answers to this question probably equals or exceeds the current membership of the GSG. In what follows, I outline some of my own thoughts regarding a possible answer to this question.

A major reason why I initially fell in love with geography back when I was a confused undergraduate is that geography, more than any other discipline, advertises itself as a field of inquiry that adopts a "holistic" approach to the study of biophysical and human systems. As a graduate student, I was fortunate to have two mentors, Duke Winters at Michigan State University, and Will Graf, at Arizona State University, who are firm believers in the holistic nature of geographical inquiry and who instill this perspective in their students. One need only look, for example, at much of Will Graf's work for exemplars of how to effectively merge the physical with the human. Will, however, is the exception rather than the rule. The general trend in geomorphology over the past 30 years has been toward studies that emulate pure physical science and exclude a human dimension. Recently (say, over the last 10 years), we have seen an increase in the number of studies that have an "applied" dimension in that they focus on human impacts on geomorphological systems. Given the renewed (and I would venture to guess sustained) interest in environmental problems, this move toward "applied" studies is a good one. However, I do not believe that this move takes us far enough in the direction we must go. We need to take an extra step - the step that places us in the realm of truly integrative studies in which we collaborate (GASP!) with our colleagues on the human side of the discipline.

Now before you accuse me of heresy, let me explain. As geographers, most of us have had some basic training in human geography and should be able to communicate at a fundamental level with colleagues on the human side of the discipline. Through such communication, we can begin to actively explore the contemporary world of human geography and encourage our human-geography colleagues to recognize the value of incorporating a substantive physical component into their own research programs. The benefit of pursuing this course of action will be both scholarly and pragmatic.

From a scholarly standpoint, such studies have the potential to improve the intellectual basis and disciplinary foundation of geography. Geographers have paid much lip service to the fact that the human-physical interface is a core strength of geographical research, but this promise is largely unfulfilled. Stan Trimble has called it "The Road Not Taken" (Trimble, 1992). Many environmental problems that society is now facing, including soil/water contamination, land degradation, deforestation, and habitat destruction, are the product of an interplay of social and biophysical processes. Government agencies are increasingly recognizing this fact and are looking for studies that meaningfully integrate the social and the biophysical in the search for effective solutions to environmental problems. One need only look to the NSF/EPA Water and Watersheds program for an example. This program has specifically targeted its funding on investigations that combine in an integrated framework biological/ecological research, hydrologic/geochemical/engineering research, and social science research.

Geomorphologists within geography are in an optimal position to take advantage of these types of initiatives. For those of us who hold university positions, we may only have to walk to the office next door to find a social-science colleague with whom we could begin to interact in a meaningful way. This interaction could accrue tangible benefits within the AAG, both at the individual and group levels. It could enhance the visibility of our specialty group and garner disciplinary-wide respect for the scholarly contributions of individual members of the GSG. In the long run, it may provide an antidote to the Rodney Dangerfield syndrome that seems to be voiced every year at our annual business meeting concerning the status of our specialty group within the AAG infrastructure.

Personal experience also indicates that this approach has considerable appeal among graduate students, many of whom want to believe (and demonstrate) that studies that genuinely fuse human and biophysical components of geography can contribute meaningfully to the solution of pressing environmental problems. I believe that participation of GSG members in this type of research will promote growth of student membership in our specialty group. There also seems to be a growing demand for environmental professionals with multidisciplinary perspectives and training. By producing students who are not only technically proficient in GIS and geomorphological techniques, but who also understand the complex human dimensions of environmental problems, we will help position students for environmental careers. In the long term this should increase the nonacademic membership of the GSG.

What I am proposing then is that as we move toward the dawn of the 21^st century, geomorphologists within geography should get in touch with the human side of their geographic "personalities." The time to act is now. If we fail to do so, scientists in other disciplines will quickly outpace us. The signs are already there. For example, recent discussions within geology have begun to focus on geology as a social science (Anderson and Polkinghorn, 1996) and on geology and culture (Moores, 1997). In pointing this out, I am in no way trying to define a turf war. The playing field is big enough for everyone and everyone has something of value to offer. The only question is "Will geomorphologists within geography be in the game or sitting in the stands?"

-- Bruce L. Rhoads, University of Illinois

Anderson, C.B. and Polkinghorn, B. 1996. Geology as a social science: addressing the complexity of human habits and values in water-quality conflicts. GSA Today, 6, pp. 36-38.
Moores, E.M. 1997. Geology and culture: a call for action. GSA Today, 7, pp. 7-11.
Trimble, S.W. 1992. Preface. In the American Environment: Interpretations of Past Geographies. Dilsaver, L.M and Colten, C.E. (eds), Tontowa, NJ: Rowan and Littlefield, pp. xv-xxii.

AWARDS, PRIZES, COMPETITIONS

AAG GEOMORPHOLOGY SPECIALTY GROUP STUDENT PAPER COMPETITION

The Geomorphology specialty Group of the AAG will be awarding two graduate student research grants to help cover the costs of data acquisition, field work and laboratory analyses required to complete their thesis research. The awards are $200 to a Master's student and $400 to a Ph.D. student.

These awards will be based on a competitive appraisal of a research proposal. To quality, students must be members of the Geomorphology specialty Group and be enrolled in full-time graduate studies at the time the award is given. The awards will be presented at the Geomorphology Specialty Group Business Meeting during the 1997 AAG annual meeting, to be held in Fort Worth, Texas, April 1-5, 1997.

To apply for one of the awards, students should submit three (3) copies of their research proposal (maximum of 5 pages in length) and arrange to have two letters of reference sent to: Dr. W.G. Nickling, Department of Geography, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, CANADA N1G 2W1. Proposals and reference letters should be received before February 15, 1997. It is the student's responsibility to ensure that the reference letters are received by this date.  

AAG GEOMORPHOLOGY SPECIALTY GROUP AWARDS

Each year the Geomorphology Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers presents two research awards:

A) The Gilbert Award for Excellence in Geomorphic Research -- Presented to the author(s) of a significant contribution to the published research literature in geomorphology during the past three years.

B) The Distinguished Career Award -- Presented to an individual who has made significant contributions to geomorphology over his/her career.

Nominations for both of these awards were due by January 31, 1997 to Bill Nickling, (University of Guelph).

AWARD TO YOUNG SCIENTISTS: The Jan De Ploey Prize

In 1993 the Jan De Ploey Prize was established to further research in the field of process geomorphology. This prize is awarded every two years to a young scientist (under the age of 35 years) who has made a significant contribution to research in the field of geomorpholgical processes. Previous prizewinners were Dr. R. Allison (University of Durham, U.K.) in 1993 and Dr. Y. Le Bissonnais (INRA, Orleans, France) in 1995. This Prize will be awarded for the third time at the Fourth International Association of Geomorphologists Conference in Bologna, Italy, 28 August - 3 September 1997. The recipient will be expected to deliver a memorial lecture at the Laboratory for Experimental Geomorphology, K.U.Leuven, Belgium. The Prize will pay the expenses of the visit to Leuven and the residual sum may be used to support attendance at an appropriate international conference.

Nominations should consist of a brief statement and any supporting materials (C.V., list of publications), including at least a copy of one critical published paper. Please send your nominations before MARCH 31, 1997 to the Jan De Ploey Prize Selection Committee, Laboratory for Experimental Geomorphology, K.U. Leuven, Redingenstraat 16, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.

-- Submitted by Jean Poesen (Jean.Poesen@Geo.KULeuven.Ac.Be), fax: 00 32 16 32 64 00

MEETINGS, WORKSHOPS, SYMPOSIA, CAMPS

IV INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GEOMORPHOLOGY

Every fourth year, the International Association of Geomorphologists meets. This meeting, sponsored by the Gruppo Nazionale Geografia Fisica e Geomorfologia, will be August 28-September 3, 1997 in Bologna, Italy. The meeting includes plenary lectures, sessions and symposia. The 28^th Binghamton Symposium (see below) will be held during this time. Pre-and post-conference field trips have also been scheduled. The deadline for abstracts has passed (10/96); payment for field trips is due by 4/30/97; the first field excursions begin on 8/22. Information may be obtained by contacting:

MICHELE.GALANTINO@ PLANNING.INET.IT

1997 BINGHAMTON SYMPOSIUM: ENGINEERING GEOMORPHOLOGY

The 28th Annual Binghamton Symposium will be held in conjunction with the 4th International Conference on Geomorphology at the University of Bologna in Italy, 28 August to 3 September 1997. This follows the pattern established with the 1993 Binghamton Symposium held during the 3rd IAG in Hamilton, Ontario. The title of the symposium this year is Changing the Face of the Earth: Engineering Geomorphology, organized by J.R. Giardino and R.A. Marston. Twelve invited speakers will provide an international perspective on concepts and techniques in engineering geomorphology in fluvial, hillslope, arid, periglacial, glacial, tropical, coastal, and urban environments. Weathering and forensic geomorphology will also be considered. Elsevier will publish a volume with manuscripts by the twelve speakers plus additional invited manuscripts. The basic theme of the Symposium is what can engineering geomorphology contribute toward mitigating problems of instability pertinent to natural resource management? For further information, refer to the IAG Circulars or contact Drs. Giardino and Marston.

8th Congress of the International Association of Engineering Geology

September 21-25, 1998.

Theme: Engineering Geology, A Global View from the Pacific Rim, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

For Information, please contact: Ms. Kim Meidal, Secretariat, 8th Congress IAEG, c/o BC Hydro, 6911 Southpoint Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V3N 4X8; tel. (604)528-2421; fax (604)528-2558; email: kim.meidal@bchydro.bc.ca; http://www.bchydro.bc.ca/bchydro/IAEG/IAEG98.html

JUNEAU ICEFIELD RESEARCH PROGRAM

Juniors and seniors in secondary school, plus undergraduates and graduate students in science or science education, are invited to participate in the Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP) from 1 July to 24 August 1997. JIRP is an expeditionary and field science training program conducted annually since 1946 on one of the largest icefields in the western hemisphere within the Coast Range of Alaska and British Columbia. Students can earn up to 9 university credit hours for research participation in earth system science projects which emphasize work in geology, geophysics, glaciology, geomorphology, meteorology, hydrology, ecology, surveying, and mapping. Each year, 50-60 students, staff, and faculty traverse the 1500 mi² Juneau Icefield by ski and foot between fully equipped camps, conducting new and ongoing studies of glaciers and adjacent terrain using state-of-the-art equipment. For applications or information, contact: Dr. Richard A. Marston, Univ. Alaska Southeast Center for Juneau Icefield Studies, 1108 F St., Juneau, AK 99801, Email: JFRAM@ACAD1.ALASKA.EDU; Phone: 907-465-8741 Fax: 907-465-2166; WWW home page: http://www.jun.alaska.edu/uas/student_services/JunIce.shtml

Geography of the West Field Camp: Basin & Range 23 June to 20 July 1997; Central Washington University

Course Description: We will focus on the northern Nevada portion of the Basin & Range where students will immerse themselves in the physical and/or resource geography of a mountain range and a nearby, contrasting basin. Students will work individually and in groups on such topics as: 1) physical geography--geomorphology, climatology, biogeography, soils, and hydrology--all within the context of recent and paleo-environmental change; and/or 2) resource geography--grazing, water, and mining, all within the context of ecosystem management and public/private resource use.

Participants, via intensive field research, will gain experience in field observation, airphoto and topographic map interpretation, basic field surveying, field data collection, and field mapping. Participants will ultimately complete an in-depth field research project and present it to the group. En route to, during, and following our field sessions we will explore physical, human, and resource geography issues in the arid west.

Prerequisites: Instructor's permission. Course & Credits: Geog 493--Field Experience (10 quarter credits); Class Size: 15 students maximum Facilities: Participants will drive or backpack into remote, undeveloped campsites. Cooking and clean-up duties will be shared. Cost: $975 (est.) includes undergraduate tuition and transportation. Add $350 for graduate credit. Plan on an addition ~$30/week for food.

To apply, submit a letter of application stating why you wish to participate and why you are well suited for the program. Also, please include a copy of transcripts, and a letter of recommendation. Applications should be received by 30 April 1997. Applications received later will be considered on a space available basis. Selection will be complete by 15 May 1997.

Contact/Apply: Dr. Karl Lillquist/Damon Roberts; Geography and Land Studies Dept./Resource Management Program, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA 98926 USA; phone: (509) 693-1184; email: lillquis@cwu.edu/robertsd@aurora.cwu.edu

The tenth SEFOP (Southeastern Friends of the Pleistocene) Trip

will be held in the Cheat Canyon, Northern West Virginia on 18-20 April, led by Greg Springer (James Madison University), Steve Kite (West Virginia University) and others. The trip will focus on cave morphology and sedimentology, though many other interesting surficial deposits and erosional forms will be visited. The caves to be visited display a suite of sedimentary facies that possess evidence of whether they were deposited above or below local baselevel (Cheat River). Such evidence combined with paleomagnetic sampling has allowed the trip leaders to calculate a rate of incision for the Cheat River that includes error bars. Previous studies using cave sediments to determine incision rates have uniformly assumed that virtually all sediments are equally representative of baselevel position, despite obvious differences in origin and source. By using sedimentary facies models, the trip leaders believe they have brought a new level of accuracy to the procedure of determining incision rates using cave sediments.

The preliminary trip itinerary also includes slackwater sediments as stage indicators (good-1996 and bad-1985), huge boulder bedload transport, hillside boulder streams, and canyon-rim rock cities. The Cheat River in the upper Canyon is the largest undammed river in the eastern U.S. It is capable of very high-energy events, such as the 190,000 cfs flood in November 1985.

The Cheat Canyon is beautiful in April, but the trip will require a 10 to 12 km round-trip hike along an old logging railroad in the canyon with two or three 30 m decents down steep slopes. The trip will be physically demanding and include significant risk of personal injury. All participants come on the trip on their own at their own risk. The off-road nature of the trip will require that registration be limited to the first 30 registrants.

Questions concerning logistical issues should be directed to Steve Kite (Kite@WVUGEO.WVNET.EDU). Lodging will be based in Morgantown, accessible by I- 79, I-68, and USAir. More information will soon be available on the 1997 SEFOP WEB page: http://vax2.jmu.edu/~springgs/index.html

Beringian Paleoenvironments: September 20-23, 1997 at the Nature Place (west of Colorado Springs, CO).

This workshop of American, Canadian and Russian scientists, is sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the University of Colorado, and will focus on paleoenvironments of Beringia. It honors the career of David Hopkins. This nterdisciplinary meeting will involve geologists, paleontologists, archaeologists, paleoceanographers, climate modelers, and modern biologists. The purposes of the workshop are: 1) to examine and synthesize the current state of knowledge in the above-mentioned fields concerning Beringia with the aim of preparing a new volume on Beringian paleoenvironments, and 2) to establish an agenda for future Beringian research, focusing on the suitability of new techniques to answer ongoing research questions and pinpointing potentially important aspects of research that have previously been lacking or under represented in Beringian study regions.

For more details, see the workshop home page on the world Wide Web at http://culter.colorado.edu:1030/~saelias/Workshop/workshop/html

or contact one of the co-conveners:

Scott Elias INSTAAR, CB 450, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 saelias@culter.colorado.edu

Julie Brigham-Grette Geology and Geography Dept. Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 brigham-grette@geolgeog.umass.edu

WEB SITES Ted Smith submitted the following:

Online Resources for Earth Scientists (ORES)

Bill Thoen and Ted Smith have assembled an extensive list of electronically available resources of interest to earth scientists. ORES is organized by topic and type of resource. There are sections geography, geology, oceanography, meteorology, soils science, biology, GIS, and more. The geology and geography sections are further subdivided into geomorphology, mineralogy and mining, earthquake seismology, geophysics, paleontology, etc. Also of interest is the section on Employment Resources for Earth Scientists.

URLs of greatest interest to geomorphologists:
  Online Resources for Earth Scientists: http://www.calweb.com/~tcsmith/ores/
  Geography Index: http://www.calweb.com/~tcsmith/ores/geog/
  Geomorphology: http://www.calweb.com/~tcsmith/ores/geog/physical/
  Geology Index: http://www.calweb.com/~tcsmith/ores/geology/
  Volcanology: http://www.calweb.com/~tcsmith/ores/geology/volcano/
  Oceanography: http://www.calweb.com/~tcsmith/ores/ocean/
  Soil Science: http://www.calweb.com/~tcsmith/ores/soils/
  Employment Resources for Earth Scientists: http://www.calweb.com/~tcsmith/ores/jobs/
  Archive of Geomorforum newsletters: http://www.cla.sc.edu/geog/gsgdocs
  Univ. So. Carolina Geography Dept.: http://www.cla.sc.edu/geog/index.html

GEOSCI-JOBS E-mail List and Archive Site
Looking for a job? Looking to hire an earth scientist? Then be certain to check out the GEOSCI-JOBS E-mail List that Ted Smith set up as a free service for the geoscience community. Some 80 to 120 available positions are announced each month. This world-wide list is moderated to limit messages to employment opportunity announcements (plus an occasional administrative message). Messages are distributed individually and as a digest (a compilation of messages) distributed about every three days. As they are distributed, digests also are made available via the GEOSCI-JOBS Archive Index at: http://www.eskimo.com/~tcsmith/mail/gsj-arc.html

[FYI, for each day that you check out the archive index, Ted gets a penny to help defray the cost of the service.- the Editor]

To subscribe to the list, send a message to GEOSCI-JOBS-REQUEST@eskimo.com with the Subject: SUBSCRIBE (the text of the message is ignored). To subscribe to the digest edition of the list, send a message to GEOSCI-JOBS-DIGEST-REQUEST@eskimo.com with the Subject: SUBSCRIBE (the text of the message is ignored).

Employment opportunity announcements should be sent via e-mail to GEOSCI-JOBS@eskimo.com. Please briefly indicate the qualifying level of education (e.g., BA, BS, PhD), type of position (e.g., Entry [if an entry position], Postdoc, Assistantship, Scholarship), and field of expertise (e.g., geomorphology), and location in the subject (such as, PhD: Soil Science: USA-FL; or Grad Asst: Hydrology: Canada-BC). Line width of 72 characters or less generally works best. -- Ted Smith <ted.smith@mtnswest.com>

AAG Sessions

[Editor's note: I may have missed a few relevant sessions, but I think this list shows most of the geomorphology sessions at the AAG meeting.]

Wednesday, April 2, 1997
8:00 a.m. Hillslope Processes and Landscape Evolution
8:00 a.m. Coastal Geomorphology I (Sponsored by Geomorphology and Coastal and Marine Specialty Groups) Organizer: Paul A. Gares

Poster Session I: Climatology and Geomorphology
10:00 a.m. Coastal Geomorphology II (Sponsored by Geomorphology and Coastal and Marine Specialty Groups), Organizer: Paul A. Gares
1:45 p.m. The New Revolution in Geomorphology: Cosmogenic Nuclides I (Sponsored by Geomorphology Specialty Group), Organizers: Linda Horn, Ronald Dorn

Poster Session II: Remote Sensing, Land Cover, and Biogeography
3:45 p.m. The New Revolution in Geomorphology: Cosmogenic Nuclides II (Sponsored by Geomorphology Specialty Group), Organizers: Linda Horn, Ronald Dorn

Thursday, April 3, 1997
8:00 a.m. Sediment Transport in Fluvial Systems I (Sponsored by Geomorphology Specialty Group and Friends of Hydrology in Geography), Organizer: Michael C. Slattery
10:00 a.m. Sediment Transport in Fluvial Systems II (Sponsored by Geomorphology Specialty Group and Friends of Hydrology in Geography),Org: Michael C. Slattery
1:45 p.m. Sediment Transport in Fluvial Systems III (Sponsored by Geomorphology Specialty Group and Friends of Hydrology in Geography), Org: Michael C. Slattery
3:45 p.m. Environmental History of Northern Mexico II (Sponsored by Cultural Ecology, Geomorphology, Latin American, and Human Impacts of Global Change Specialty Groups), Organizers: Karl W. Butzer , Charles D. Frederick

Sediment Transport in Fluvial Systems IV (Sponsored by Geomorphology Specialty Group and Friends of Hydrology in Geography), Org: M.Slattery

Friday, April 4, 1997
8:00 a.m. Geomorphology: Weathering (Sponsored by Geomorphology Specialty Group), Organizer: Thomas R. Paradise

Ecological and Geomorphic Impacts of Hurricanes I (Sponsored by Biogeography and Coastal and Marine Specialty Groups), Org: am-biu Liu
10:00 a.m. Soils in Cultural Context: Mesoamerica (Sponsored by Geomorphology and Cultural Ecology Specialty Groups), Organizers: Tim Beach, Nicholas P. Dunning
Ecological and Geomorphic Impacts of Hurricanes I (Sponsored by Biogeography and Coastal and Marine Specialty Groups),Org: Kam-biu Liu

Quaternary Landforms and Sediments
1:45 p.m. Soils in Cultural Context: The Midwest (Sponsored by Geomorphology Specialty Group), Organizers: Tim Beach, Nicholas P. Dunning
3:45 p.m. Soils in Cultural Context: The World (Sponsored by Geomorphology and Cultural Specialty Group), Organizers: Tim Beach, Nicholas P. Dunning

Saturday, April 5, 1997
8:00 a.m. Fluvial Geomorphology: Wetlands
Drylands Geomorphology I (Sponsored by Geomorphology Specialty Group), Organizers: Vatche Tchakerian, Jeffrey A. Lee
10:00 a.m. Fluvial Geomorphology: Channel Processes
Drylands Geomorphology II (Sponsored by Geomorphology Specialty Group), Organizers: Vatche Tchakerian, Jeffrey A. Lee
1:45 p.m. Quantitative Methods in Climate and Geomorphology
Drylands Geomorphology III (Sponsored by Geomorphology Specialty Group), Organizers: Vatche Tchakerian, Jeffrey A. Lee
3:45 p.m. to 5:25 p.m. Quaternary Climate Change

SHAMELESS PLUGS

(only two this time - a definite sign that more folks need to send blurbs to the Editor!!)

SHAMELESS PLUG #1 - DAVID BUTLER

David Butler, accompanied by doctoral student Forrest Wilkerson, spent a week in northwest Montana in February, 1996, investigating individual local residents' responses to a widespread episode of snow avalanching that temporarily closed both U.S. Highway 2 along the southern border of Glacier National Park, and the mainline of the Burlington Northern Railroad. The research was funded by a Quick Response Grant from the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center of the University of Colorado. They managed to witness several mass-movement events firsthand, and experience a white-out blizzard while trying to drive over Marias Pass.

In August, 1996, George Malanson (University of Iowa) and David Butler spent about 2 weeks in Glacier Park conducting rephotography research at historic photo sites throughout the park. Two doctoral students (Forrest Wilkerson, debris flow fabric and morphology; and Ross Meentemeyer, beaver-pond location and sedimentation) and a master's student (John Vogler, effects of historical trampling on subalpine sites) were also in Glacier Park during this time. Ross Meentemeyer presented (with Butler) "Effects of Dam Age on the Hydrogeomorphic Characteristics of Beaver Ponds in Eastern Glacier National Park, Montana" at the Southeastern Division, AAG meeting in Athens, GA, in November 1996. Butler was elected to the SEDAAG Honors Committee for 1997.

Recent grants, in addition to that mentioned above, include a UNC University Research Grant, 1996-1998, "Hazardous High-Magnitude Landslides Along the Lewis Overthrust Fault, Northwest Montana"; and a UNC Center for Teaching and Learning Professional Development in Teaching Grant to attend the International Association of Landscape Ecologists Conference in March, 1997. Recent publications include:

• Butler, David R., 1996. Laboratory Exercise Book, Introduction to Physical Geography. West Publishing Co., St. Paul, 174 pp.
• Butler, David R., 1996. The Carolina invasion of the fire ants. In: Snapshots of the Carolinas: Landscapes and Cultures, D.G. Bennett, ed. Assn American Geographers, Wash., D.C., 95-97.
• Nicholas, Joseph W., and David R. Butler, 1996. Application of relative age-dating techniques on rock glaciers of the LaSal Mountains, Utah: an interpretation of Holocene paleoclimates. Geografiska Annaler 78(1), 1-18.
• Townsend, Philip A., and David R. Butler, 1996. Patterns of landscape use by beaver on the lower Roanoke River floodplain, North Carolina. Physical Geography 17(3), 253-269.
• Vogler, John B., and David R. Butler, 1996. Pedestrian and bicycle-induced path erosion on a university campus. Physical Geography 17(5), 485-494.
• David Butler continues as Book Review Editor of the journal Geomorphology, and would appreciate volunteers, with topic lists of areas of expertise, for possible future reviews. Contact him at BUTLER@GEOG.UNC.EDU

SHAMELESS PLUG #2: SHAMELESS IN TENNESSEE
Here's a shameless plug from the University of Tennessee, where Geomorphology is very much alive and well in the Geography and Geology departments. Mike Clark (Geology) has focused on the geomorphology of the Appalachians south of the glacial margin and has recently collaborated on research on rock glaciers (Absarokas) and on the Pleistocene/ Holocene geomorphology of the high mountains in the Dominican Republic (see below).

I (Harden, in Geography) primarily study geomorphic processes in (preferably mountain) watersheds. Although most of my previous work was in Andean and tropical rainforest environments, current projects involve urban and suburban watersheds in Tennessee and spatial variability of rainfall infiltration of soils with different land use histories, at various scales, in Tennessee and the Southern Appalachian region.

Ken Orvis, in Geography, is developing a research arena of "landscape climatology," in which topography and hydrology are key factors and he maintains active interests in linking GIS techniques to environmental modeling. Ken, formerly a student of Oberlander at Berkeley, is no stranger to geomorphology. Sally Horn (Geography), a biogeographer whose research involves working with sediment deposits, is also an excellent resource for our students interested in dendrochronological techniques in geomorphologic contexts. As I write this, Horn, Orvis, Clark a graduate student (Kennedy) and an undergraduate student (Drinnon) are on a research expedition in the Dominican Republic, funded by National Geographic Society to Horn, following up on an earlier reconnaissance trip to determine the extent of glacial/periglacial influences in the high mountains of the D.R. (Note: if you should need to ask your university for a cash advance to hire mules, be sure to allow extra time for the request to clear.)

The major source of local excitement for us is the completion, scheduled for April, 1997, of a new research facility, containing new lab space for Harden, Horn and Orvis. We're looking forward to a large suite of labs in a new building, with space dedicated to particle-size analysis, magnetic susceptibility analysis, various pollen analysis projects, dendrochronological analysis, and GIS/remote sensing.

Recently completed geomorphology-related dissertations and theses in Geography at the University of Tennessee:

• P. Daniel Royall (Ph.D., 1997) "Lake Sediment-Based Evaluation of Sediment Yield and Dynamics, Crooked Run Drainage Basin, Virginia"
• Gailya Glawson (Ph.D., 1996) "Evaluating and Modeling Flood Potential in Ungaged High Relief Basins in East Tennessee: A Hydrogeomorphic Approach"
• Chris Buhi (M.S., 1997) "Soil Hydraulic Properties in Two Tropical Lowland Forests: Jatun Sacha, Ecuador, and La Selva, Costa Rica"
• Martha Castle (M.S., 1996) "A Comparison of Three Methods for Estimating Impervious Area in an Urban Watershed: Second Creek, Knoxville, Tennessee"
• Thomas Wallin (M.S., 1995) "Quantifying Trail-Related Soil Erosion at Two Sites in the Humid Tropics: Jatun Sacha, Ecuador, and La Selva, Costa Rica."
• Louise Mathews (M.S., 1995) "Patterns of Land Degradation and Restoration in the Copper Basin, Tennessee, and Their Influence on Soil Hydrologic Properties"

Nearing Completion (expected to defend in spring, 1997!):

• Joseph Henderson (M.S.) "Debris Slide Susceptibility Analysis in the Mt. Leconte-Newfound Gap Area of the Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee
• Glenn Hyman (Ph.D.) "A Sediment Budget for the Rio Pacuare Watershed, Costa Rica."

Recent Publications:

• Wallin and Harden 1996. "Quantifying Trail-Related Soil Erosion at Two Sites in the Humid Tropics: Jatun Sacha, Ecuador, and La Selva, Costa Rica." Ambio XXV(7):517-522.
• Harden, 1996. Interrelationships Between Land Abandonment and Land Degradation:A Case from the Ecuadorian Andes. Mountain Research and Development 16(3):274-280.
• Harden, 1996. Runoff Connectivity Zones: Preliminary Results of a Field-Based Study in a Tributary Catchment of Second Creek, Knoxville, Tennessee. In R. Wadlington, M. Eiffe and M. Sale (eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth Tennessee Water Resources Symposium, Feb. 12-14, 1996, Nashville, Tennessee, pp. 6-9.

NOTES FROM THE EDITOR:

First, an observation: I did not read Bruce's "The Road Not Taken" until after I had composed the following notes. This convergence in theme is unlikely to be coincidental -is the writing on the wall?

Recently, I've been reminded in various different ways that the relationship between the general public and science, as currently practiced by academics, needs work. At a community meeting last month here in Knoxville, Tennessee, in a discussion concerning the EPA response to a proposed riparian restoration plan, the presenter noted that EPA had recommended consulting a "fluvial geomorphologist" about the plan. The ensuing question (from a naturalist and environmental educator): "What's a fluvial geomorphologist?" brought some wonderfully creative responses, including "is it contagious?"and "well, there's a 24-hour variety and then there's the longer-lasting kind." Sharing a laugh with a cross-section of the community is undoubtedly good for team-building, but the cost to me was recognition that neither geomorphology nor fluvial is a term that holds meaning for the educated, environmentally concerned public. This came at a time when I'd been reading Carl Sagan's book, The Demon Haunted World (1995, NY: Random House), in which Sagan argued strongly that science does itself a great disservice by using jargon and by insolating itself from the world at large and provided numerous examples of how poor connections between scientists and the rest of the population leave sectors of the population to develop their own pseudoscience and to miss opportunities to use scientific thinking to inform actions and decisions.

At the same time, I was working on a proposal in response to this year's EPA/NSF request for water and watersheds proposals to integrate the community in interdisciplinary watershed research. It turns out that NSF and EPA (as well as other government agencies, such as the Forest Service) have been making an effort to change the "culture" of research. Those of us in Geography departments have seen this coming, as our colleagues in human geography have busied themselves re-examining what research questions are asked, how and where results are disseminated and who benefits from the research enterprise. Frankly, the business of involving the community in watershed research is enormously time-consuming and expensive.

Furthermore, such activities as making phone calls and holding focus groups are not what excited many of us to become geomorphologists. Yet, from the outside, at least, it appears that we need to relax our defenses and be more public about our work. I have several suggestions: (1) befriend a human geographer, sociologist or social anthropologist (they thrive on this stuff), and (2) consider some effort toward public relations part of the cost of doing business - people are not going to create jobs or provide research funding for fluvial geomorphologists (or other geomorphogists) when they haven't even heard of geomorphology. Jon Harbor has set a new standard for us in the area of PR by demonstrating how feasible it is to produce press releases about geomorphological research and get them published. Those of our specialty group doing research that is visibly applied have helped all of us (thanks). We neither need to leave the arena of theoretical pursuits nor invent the wheel. As many of our colleagues have demonstrated for decades, the world is full of interesting geomorphological problems that both affect people and provide stimulating material for advancing theory.

-- Carol Harden

About GEOMORPHORUM:

GEOMORPHORUM is issued twice a year by the Geomorphology Specialty Group (GSG) of the Association of American Geographers. This purpose of this newsletter is to exchange ideas and news of geomorphology, and to foster improved communication within our community of scholars. The editor welcomes (and will beg for) news, comments, suggestions, and assistance from all members of the geomorphological community. GEOMORPHORUM circulates to around 450 scientists who share a common interest in geomorphology. While most of our members are North American geographers, the GSG does have a substantial foreign membership and welcomes international and interdisciplinary participation.

GEOMORPHORUM is distributed over GEOMORPHLIST (for which we all owe Jeff Lee infinite thanks!). It will be submitted to Jeff to be put on the GEOMORPHLIST archive web page and to the AAG to be added to the GSG part of the AAG web page.

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