• EDITOR'S NOTE
• PEOPLE
• GSG BUSINESS
  • Minutes of the Pittsburgh business meeting
  • Welcome and Introductions
  • Review/Revision/Approval of Minutes from 1998 Meeting
  • Treasurer’s Report 1999-2000
  • Matters Arising - Logo
  • GSG Awards 2000:
    • G.K. Gilbert Award for Excellence in Geomorphic Research
    • Mel Marcus Distinguished Career Award
    • Graduate Student Research Awards
  • Nominations, Elections and Appointments
  • Announcements

• Special Sessions in NY
• Closure
• GSG AWARDS 2001  - Call for Nominations and Entries
  • Graduate Student Paper Award
• Graduate Student Research Awards
• G.K. Gilbert Award for Excellence in Geomorphic Research
• Mel Marcus Distinguished Career Award
• CHAIR'S COMMENTARY - Basil Gomez
  • You and the Annals
  • Geomorphology Speciality Group  Blackwell Publishers’ Lecture
• NOTICES
  • AAG New York, 2001
  • Other Meetings
• MISCELLANY
  • Links to Related Sites
  • GSG Members -- E-mail Addresses

GEOMORPHORUM is issued twice a year by the Geomorphology Specialty Group (GSG) of the Association of American Geographers.  The purpose of the newsletter is to exchange ideas and news about geomorphology and related matters, and to foster improved communication within our community of scholars and professionals.

GEOMORPHORUM is archived at http://www.cla.sc.edu/geog/gsgdocs GEOMORPHORUM appears as a web page.  The format has deliberately been kept simple (by minimizing the number of internal links) to allow members to print a hard copy of the complete newsletter with the minimum of effort.  Individuals are encouraged to submit copy (accompanied by suitably captioned illustrations).  In so far as it may improve understanding of the internal workings of our community, members are especially encouraged to communicate news of new initiatives, appointments and promotions made in their Department or University.  The twice yearly appearance of GEOMORPHORUM makes it unsuitable for announcing new faculty positions or opportunities for graduate students; but such a service may be established as a continuously updated link in the future.  Recent graduates (both Masters and Ph.D.) are, however, invited to provide their name, thesis title, date examined,  five descriptive key words, a list of related publications, and an e- or snail-mail contact address.  Those attending field meetings, conferences, or workshops are also reminded to submit reports of these events.  The extent to which the newsletter’s usual diet of comments by the GSG’s chair, business meeting minutes, reports and updates, notices of meetings, and ad hoc news from the membership will be supplemented by additional contributions is, of course, dependent on you, the reader.   If you make a submission please bear in mind that the web is an interactive medium (i.e., e-mail addresses and web site links should be incorporated in the text whenever possible; text should be submitted as a Word or WordPerfect files and illustrations as .JPEG, .GIF or .TIF files).  Your comments and suggestions on ways in which the formatting/presentation/content could be improved are also most welcome.  Finally, if you encounter a problem please bring it to my attention, or to the attention of my successor as the group’s secretary: Bernie Bauer (University of Southern California) bbauer@usc.edu
Basil Gomez (Indiana State University) bgomez@indstate.edu

 

Elected Officers (1999-2000)
Chair: Basil Gomez (Indiana State University) bgomez@indstate.edu
Secretary/Treasurer: Bernie Bauer (University of Southern California) bbauer@usc.edu

Advisory Board (1999-2000)
Senior Advisor: Carol Harden (University of Tennessee) charden@utk.edu
Jeff Lee (Texas Tech University) adgjl@ttacs.ttu.edu
Joann Mossa (University of Florida) mossa@geog.ufl.edu

Awards Committee (1999-2000)
Chair: Mike O’Neill (USDA NRICGP) moneill@intranet.reeusda.gov
Karen Lemke (University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point) klemke@uwsp.edu
Greg Pope (Montclair State University) popeg@saturn.montclair.edu

1) Minutes of the PITTSBURGH business meeting

Chair: Joann Mossa (University of Florida)
A) Welcome and Introductions
B) Review/Revision/Approval of Minutes from 1998 Meeting
     i. There was no discussion regarding the minutes
     ii. The minutes as published in the Summer 1999 issue of Geomorphorum were approved             unanimously by members attending the business meeting.
C) Treasurer’s Report 1999-2000
         The GSG’s accounts for the year 1999-2000 are as follows:
        Income $2385.58

                        Disbursements  $1029.37

                        Ending Balance $1356.21

The International Association of Geomorphologists (IAG) fees for the current year are still outstanding, and clarification has been sought from the IAG treasurer about the proportion ($1000 is due from the United States as a whole) that the GSG is required to pay.

In his remarks the treasurer also stated that the group was, in effect, living from hand to mouth.  This situation does not contribute to the group’s stability, and to remedy it he proposed that a millennial fund be established to provide a permanent source from which the expenses (which amount to some $1000 per annum) associated with the group’s student awards could be derived.  The target sum mentioned was $10,000.  Establishing such a fund would permit the group to direct the bulk of the annual income derived from dues to other promotional activities, and also give the Awards Committee the latitude to make multiple awards in circumstances where they are warranted.  It should also ensure that the membership dues remain static in the immediate future.

After a brief discussion it was suggested that the incoming Chair prepare a proposal for submission to the 2001 business meeting, and that discussion of the topic be initiated via the medium of Geomorphorum.  Consequently, your comments on this proposal would be most welcome.

Basil Gomez (Indiana State University) bgomez@indstate.edu

 

D) Matters Arising - GSG Logo

There were 4 submissions for the GSG logo contest sponsored by Allan James. The group voted to adopt Tom Paradise’s design, shown below:

The design may also appear on a T-shirt if sufficient members of the group are interested in purchasing said item.  Sartorially aware members should indicate their intent to place an order by providing Bernie Bauer bbauer@usc.edu with the size (XXL, XL, L, M, S, child) and number of T-shirts required.  If sufficient interest is aroused, T-shirts will be available for collection at the 2001 business meeting.

 

E) GSG Awards - 2000

Grove Karl Gilbert Award for Excellence in Geomorphic Research
Nomination: F.J. Magilligan(Dartmouth College)

Ellen Wohl, Doug Thompson, and Andy Miller’s paper entitled ‘Canyons with undulating walls’ (Geological Society of America Bulletin, 1999, v. 111, p.949-959.) is a thoughtful and important piece, and one that will have a large impact in fluvial geomorphology.  Pulling together an array of approaches including hydraulic modeling, flume experimentation, rock mechanics, and detailed field work, these authors have developed a broad synthetic analysis to describe and explain the formation of these spectacular geomorphic features.  This work is based on Ellen's vast field work on fluvial features in bedrock channels, an often neglected area in fluvial geomorphology, and is combined with Dave's and Andy's interest in hydraulic modeling.  Unlike traditional approaches in hydraulic modeling, the authors have used detailed two-dimensional flow modeling to portray flow relations and geomorphic pattern.  Using a broad methodological approach that would make T.C. Chamberlain delighted, including structural geology, stratigraphy, hydraulics, and rock mechanics, this article demonstrates that minimal geologic difference exists in those canyons having undulating canyon walls.  Instead, their results indicate that hydraulic processes are the dominant control on the formation of undulating walls.

The research reveals the inherent hydraulic mechanisms and organizational structure in bedrock reaches.  The authors show that wall undulations act to reduce the inter-reach, spatial variability in energy expenditure, and to minimize energy expenditure within a reach. Their hydraulic explanation suggests that wall undulations and flow hydraulics generate a feedback whereby the wall undulations are preserved following knickpoint incision.  The wall undulations subsequently act to regulate downstream energy expenditure in a manner analogous to bedform genesis in alluvial streams.  This implies that generalized principles of uniform energy expenditure developed for alluvial channels may also apply at the reach scale to bedrock channels with relatively homogeneous substrates.

The paper is an important theoretical piece and one that is well deserving of the G.K. Gilbert award.  It is empirically grounded and theoretically rich, and answers an important geomorphic question.

Response:Ellen Wohl (Colorado State University), Doug Thompson (Connecticut
College), and Andy Miller (University of Maryland, Baltimore)

We’d like to thank Frank Magilligan for nominating our paper and the committee for giving us this award. To have one’s name associated with that of G.K. Gilbert is on the one hand a very great honor and on the other a bit intimidating; to quote Jonathan Phillips in his 1997 acceptance speech, “When I look at the list of recipients of this award, I’m pretty sure I don’t belong on it and I’m damn proud to be on it.”

Perhaps we were blessed by geographic coincidence: those of you who know the Henry Mountains will know that one of its prominent peaks is Mt. Ellen. You probably don’t know that just a short distance to the east, near where the Dirty Devil River enters Lake Powell, is a spot on the map known as Andy Miller Flats. The Big Thompson River, of course, has a well-established geomorphic pedigree but is a bit outside of the local area. However we hope to sneak both of those other place names onto a location map in a manuscript currently in preparation. Hopefully the reviewers and the editors will have a sense of humor.

It is less of a coincidence that the work described in this paper had its origins in the Colorado Plateau of southern Utah, an incised landscape that has drawn the attention of geomorphologists ever since John Wesley Powell and G.K. Gilbert did their pioneering work.  Although undulating-wall canyons have not received much attention, they are one of the most beautiful fluvial landforms in existence and may offer a key to understanding many bedrock incision processes.  Ellen originally became interested in the morphology of these features during the First Paleohydrology Conference fieldtrip (1992), which included a hike down Wire Pass Canyon. She assumed that the undulations were controlled by joint spacing, but decided to do some field work in Wire Pass the following (1993) summer to check out that idea. It turned out that things weren't so simple.

Next she did some HEC-2 modeling and submitted a short paper to Geology. It was rejected because the modeling was too simplistic. Doug and Ellen did more field work in the Escalante drainage basin during the summer of 1994, but were still “stuck” by the 1-D modeling problem.  Ellen went to Japan on sabbatical in January-July 1996, did some flume studies with Hiroshi Ikeda that led to a publication in Geology, and then hooked up with Andy during the September 1996 bedrock channels meeting in Colorado.  The resulting 2-D modeling analysis provided a somewhat more detailed picture of the relationship between wall morphology and flow patterns in a numerical simulation of the flume experiment.

The field evidence and the 2-D modeling results suggest that you can get undulating walls in all kinds of materials, that their occurrence is not a function of material properties, and that there may be a feedback mechanism regulating the longitudinal pattern of flow hydraulics and energy expenditure that in turn favors the maintenance of the undulations. But we don’t really know yet whether the undulations are persistent or relatively transient. There’s a lot more that we have to learn about these features and about bedrock channels in general. Bedrock channels remain a relatively unstudied channel subset, although there has been rapidly growing interest in these systems during the past decade, as evidenced by the 1998 AGU Geophysical Monograph edited by Keith Tinkler and Ellen. This is fertile ground for research and we encourage more of our colleagues to jump in.

Thanks to the members of the Geomorphology Specialty Group for honoring this paper.

 

Mel Marcus Distinguished Career Award
Nomination: Carol Harden (University of Tennessee)

Three years ago, when the Distinguished Career Award in geomorphology was named for Mel Marcus, Bill Nichols reminded us that Mel had been not only a good geomorphologist, but also a consummate physical geographer.  We now present this year's award to another consummate physical geographer. It is my great pleasure to recognize Jack Ives as the recipient of this year’s Mel Marcus Distinguished Career Award.

As an undergraduate, Jack led the first University of Nottingham expedition to Arctic Norway, and then three subsequent Nottingham expeditions to southeast Iceland.  He completed his undergraduate studies at Nottingham and emigrated to Canada to study at McGill University, earning the Ph.D. in Geography, with specialization in Geomorphology, from McGill in 1956. Jack stayed in Canada, first, as Assistant Professor and Director of McGill University’s Subarctic Research Laboratory in northern Quebec; then as Assistant Director of Physical Geography for the Geographical Branch of the Canadian Department of Mining and Technical Surveys; and then as Director of the Geographical Branch of the Canadian Department of Energy, Mines and Resources. During the Canadian portion of his career, he led a number of research expeditions to the Arctic, especially Baffin Island, and was instrumental in having glaciological studies introduced into the work of the federal government.  His most important research contribution during this time was a controversial, but eventually well-accepted, model of the build-up and disintegration of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.

In 1967, he moved to the U.S., to become Director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) and professor of geography at the University of Colorado.  While Director of INSTAAR, Jack was founding editor of the journal Arctic and Alpine Research. He also directed research on avalanche hazards in the San Juan Mountains, and geomorphic hazard mapping in the San Juans and in the Indian Peaks.  In 1981, with his wife Pauline as co-editor, he founded and edited the journal, Mountain Research and Development.

In 1989, he moved to the University of California at Davis, where he served as Professor of Geography, Chair of the Geography Department, and Professor of Mountain Geoecology, until his “retirement” in 1997 (for Jack, “retirement” must be in quotes).  He is now an Honorary Professor of Geography at Carleton University in Ottowa.

Jack’s personal style of embracing controversy has strengthened our science.  He has had the courage to leap into charged debates, challenge conventional wisdom, and provide the impetus for further discussion of controversial topics and interpretations.  It has also been his personal style to think big, to pose big questions and to assemble the financial and human resources to investigate them and publish the outcome. Jack’s great energy and vision have enabled him to stay out in front, to not only frame research questions but to define and promote the contexts of geomorphological and related research. In the last decade, for example, he was part of a core group that put mountains on the agenda at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Jack brought people from cognate disciplines together long, long before “interdisciplinary research” became a buzzword, and has repeatedly created research opportunities for others. His love for field-based research has been contagious.

Besides his Canadian research on the Laurentide Ice Sheet and nunataks, he has used geomorphological evidence to study the Holocene glacial and climatic history of southeastern Iceland, geomorphic hazards in mountains, and the interplay of natural processes and human activities in the Himalayas.  His scientific accomplishments span geographical topics broader than geomorphology alone, but his roots in geomorphology have guided his career.  is enthusiasm and support for geomorphological research have affected the lives of geomorphologists around the world.

Response: Jack D. Ives (Honorary Research Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada).

It is a double pleasure and honor for me to receive the Distinguished Career Award in Geomorphology:  double because of the primary recognition it affords, but also because of the association with Mel Marcus, a much loved and greatly admired old friend and colleague.  Our first contact dates back to the early 1960s at a glaciological meeting in Ottawa.

When I was informed that I was to receive the award, I experienced a measure of personal doubt: had my contribution to geomorphology amounted to this much?  Carol Harden's presentation has convinced me that perhaps it has!  I say this, somewhat light-heartedly, because she has brought into focus for me the positive interpretation of what I have habitually used as an “excuse” - distraction from research by my career-long heavy administrative and editorial involvement, that really began while an undergraduate expedition leader and continues to this day, at least informally, in “retirement”.  This gives me the occasion to acknowledge one of my great personal joys - to have had the privilege to facilitate the work of others, and especially my many former graduate students and colleagues.  For this focus, I also thank Carol.  But I am further reminded of an additional aspect of my personality, brought out by a characteristic quip from another much respected old friend and former graduate student.  Over a decade ago, Colin Thorn sent me a complimentary copy of one of his books inscribed, in part: “Herewith, some of your favorite geomorphology - no data!”

I have been remarkably fortunate on several occasions in being at the start of a process that has overturned major established paradigms.  Carol has alluded to two of them:  Richard Foster Flint’s theory on the growth and decay of the Pleistocene Laurentide Ice Sheet that was the predominant viewpoint when I first immigrated to Canada in 1954, and the entrenched concept that indigenous farmer-induced deforestation in the Himalaya was the cause of mountain soil erosion and siltation and flooding in Gangetic India and Bangladesh.  Nevertheless, the gathering of momentum necessary to challenge such powerful constructs also demonstrated the need for teamwork.  This led to an abundance of good fellowship through teamwork in geomorphology, in physical geography at large, and in recent attempts to bridge the remaining gap between the natural and human sciences in the mountain regions of the World.

I was disciplined by an early geomorphological hero, S. W. Wooldridge, to understand that Geography has an essential physical base, and I was blessed with that missionary infusion long prior to the quantitative revolution.  This, in turn, prompts me to reflect, not only on the superior achievements of the many former students and colleagues who may have been assisted a little along their way, but also on the great debt I owe to formal and informal teachers alike:  amongst them Colonel S. F. Thomas, John Bygot and Ted Parr, at Humberstone Foundation School, Clee, Lincolnshire; K. C. Edwards and Cuchlaine A. M. King at Nottingham; Sigurður Þórarinsson and Gunnar Hoppe during my “Nordic period”;  J. Brian Bird and F. Kenneth Hare at McGill; and Carl Troll and Bruno Messerli since 1968.

This much appreciated career recognition provides an appropriate moment, perhaps, to repeat the very real truism:  that whatever may have been accomplished, in context it has depended on the privilege of having had inspired mentors and on the good fortune of so many students who became friends and whose efforts carry forward the essential notion that the sense of adventure, and of being in the field entirely for its own sake, will continue to spread great joy, and perhaps more than a little understanding.

During my verbal response to Carol’s generous introduction I believe that I made the off-the-cuff remark that I suspected my most recent publication in geomorphology had appeared before quite a number of the audience participants had been born.  That was rather presumptuous and, upon reflection, possibly not even true. My deepest thanks for a fine tribute, that I must share with so many friends and, by no means least, with Pauline Ives, field assistant, editor, critic, and life-long partner.

 

GSG Graduate Student Research Awards
Best M.A. proposal   -  Linda Martin (Southwest Missouri State University) Geomorphic adjustments of Ozark stream channels to urbanization.
Best Ph.D. proposal   -   J. Micheal Daniels (University of Wisconsin) Holocene alluvial chronologies, historical gully erosion, and drainage network development in the Upper Republican River Basin.
Graduate Student Paper Award   -  Chris Houser (University of Toronto) The emission of PM10 from a clay-crusted surface, and the use of shear velocity emission models.

 

F) Nominations, Elections and Appointments

B.O. Bauer and F.J. Magilligan were nominated as Secretary/Treasurer of the GSG for 2000-2001. Bernie Bauer (University of Southern California) was elected following a secret ballot.

Joann Mossa (University of Florida) joined the Advisory Board.

Greg Pope (Montclair State University) was appointed as the new member of the Awards Committee by Joann Mossa.

 

G)Announcements

i. Dick Marston renewed his invitation to GSG members to submit papers to Geomorphology, and emphasized that the review process was conducted in a timely manner.  He also reiterated that GSG members can subscribe to Geomorphology at a discounted rate (the GSG subscription rate for Volumes 30-35 is Dfl.184/US$93).  Subscription information may be obtained from Elsevier Science, Regional Sales Office, P.O. Box 945, New York, NY 10159-0945 (1-888-437-4636) usinfo-f@elsevier.com. Additional information can also be found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph.

ii. Doug Sherman (University of Southern California) reminded GSG members of the existence of the Geographical Review and of its long tradition of publishing papers on import to geomorphology.

iii. The group was informed that Basil Gomez had been appointed as Environmental Sciences Section Editor for the Annals of the Association of American Geographers.  His co-editors are Mike Goodchild (Models, Methods, Geographic Information Sciences), John Paul Jones (People, Place and Society), and Roger and Jeanne Kasperson (Nature and Society).

iv. Bruce Rhodes (University of Illinois) b-rhoads@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu is the GSG’s current International Association of Geomorphologists representative.  Carol Harden (University of Tennessee) charden@utk.edu will take over as representative in the year 2001, and will be the US voting representative at the IAG conference in Tokyo.

v.Special Sessions in New York
Special Sessions for the AAG Annual Meeting, February 27 to March 3 2001.

Human Impacts in Geomorphology  -  Organizers:  Dick Marston (Oklahoma State University) and Jon Harbor (Purdue University).
     The Human Impacts in Geomorphology sessions at the 2001 Association of American Geographers annual meeting in New York will focus on the interaction between humans and geomorphology.  The scope of these sessions includes both the role of human disturbance in changing rates and types of geomorphic processes, as well as the controls that geomorphic processes and forms exert on human activity.  Theoretical, monitoring, historical and applied/management papers are welcome. Papers are encouraged that seek to separate human influence on geomorphological change from change that would have occurred without human interference.  We particularly encourage papers that involve collaboration with human geographers and other non-geomorphologists.

The special sessions will include both traditional oral sessions (10-15 minute presentations) and an illustrated paper format.  The illustrated paper sessions begin with each presenter giving a brief (3 minute) oral introduction to his/her work, and this is then followed by one-on-one or small group discussion in poster format.  Illustrated paper sessions have 8 to 12 presenters.  This format received excellent reviews from presenters and audiences at the last AAG Human Impacts sessions, and we particularly encourage presentations of this type.

The organizers would appreciate being advised in advance of your intention to participate in this special session.  Abstract submission details are available in recent issues of the AAG newsletter and at the AAG website http://www.aag.org/PDF/2001call.pdf. Please submit abstracts and participation forms for oral papers by August 25th and for illustrated papers and posters by September 22nd to:  Richard A. Marston, School of Geology, 105 Noble Research Center, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74074-3301; Fax: 405-744-7841,  marstor@okstate.edu

Soils in Archaeological and Cultural Contexts  -  Organizers: Tim Beach (Georgetown University) and Nicholas Dunning (University of Cincinnati)
    Many geoscientists, archaeologists, cultural ecologists, and others are working on interdisciplinary problems of soils in archaeological and cultural contexts.  For the fourth time in te last eight years this special session invites papers from anyone in these disciplines with recent and ongoing fieldwork to take part.  Topics can range from interdisciplinary studies of indigenous soil fertility; techniques of indigenous, intensive agriculture; soil conservation; soil enhancement, soil geomorphology and archaeological evidence; soil sustainability; soil landscape remediation; and ethnopedology.

The organizers would appreciate being advised in advance of your intention to participate in this special session.  Abstract submission details are available in recent issues of the AAG newsletter and at the AAG website http://www.aag.org/PDF/2001call.pdf. Please submit abstracts and participation forms for oral papers by August 25th to:
    Tim Beach,  School of Foreign Service,  Georgetown University,  37th and O Streets,  Washington, D.C. 22307.  Beacht@gusun.georgetown.edu

Dam Removal   - Organizers: Patricia Beyer (Bloomsburg University) and Wil Graf (Arizona State University)
   From Edwards Dam, Maine to Elwha Dam, Washington, dam removal has emerged as a focal point for a range of environmental, political, economic, and social issues.  It is planned to incorporate one or more sessions on the topic of dam removal, incorporating both the physical impacts of razing the structures and the policy related to dam decommissioning, in the program for the New York AAG meeting in 2001.

The organizers would appreciate being advised in advance of your intention to participate in this special session.  Abstract submission details are available in recent issues of the AAG newsletter and at the AAG website http://www.aag.org/PDF/2001call.pdf. Please submit abstracts and participation forms for oral papers by August 25th and for illustrated papers and posters by September 22nd to:

Patricia J. Beyer,  Department of Geography and Geosciences,  Bloomsburg University,  400 East Second Street,  Bloomsburg, PA 17815.  Fax: (570) 389-3028, pbeyer@bloomu.edu

Architecture and Building Stone  -  In addition to the above special sessions, it is planned to offer a conference fieldtrip on Architecture and Building Stone.  Andrew Marcus (Montana State University) amarcus@montana.edu has also expressed an interest in organizing a special session on the Remote Sensing of Rivers and potential participants are urged to contact him directly.  Several other speciality groups also plan to organize special sessions that GSG members may wish to participate in.  Information about these sessions may be obtained from the secretary of the relevant study group.

H.Closure

Bruce Rhodes and Bill Renwick were thanked for their work on the Advisory Board and Awards Committee over the past few years.  The new officers were welcomed by the outgoing chair, who was thanked for performing her duties so efficiently over the past two years.  The next business meeting will be held at during the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in New York, February 27 to March 2, 2001.

 

2) GSG Awards - 2001  :  Call for Nominations and Entries

Graduate Student Paper Award
The Geomorphology Specialty Group announces a competition for the best geomorphology graduate student paper presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers. The award is $200. To be eligible for any of the student awards, graduate students must be members of the AAG and GSG.

Applicants for the student paper competition will be placed into special sessions organized for the competition, sponsored by the Geomorphology Specialty Group. Students participating in the paper competition should submit materials to:
   Mike O’Neill, USDA NRICGP, Mail Stop 2241, 1400 Independence Avenue, Washington,D.C. 20250-241, Fax: +202 401-6071, moneill@intranet.reeusda.gov
   Please include:
      1) The program participation fee
      2) One copy of the standard AAG program participation form
      3) One copy of the standard abstract required by the AAG
      4) One disk containing the abstract required by the AAG
      5) Three copies of an extended abstract of the paper, consisting of 800-1000 words.
All materials for the paper competition must be received by August 31, 2000.

GSG Graduate Student Research Awards
Each year the GSG awards two graduate student research grants to help cover the costs of data acquisition, field work, and laboratory analysis required to complete thesis research.  The awards are $200 to a Masters student and $400 to a Ph.D. student.  Eligible students are members of the Association of American Geographers and the GSG.  Students should submit THREE copies of (i) a research proposal (approximately 5 pages in length)  and (ii) two short letters of recommendation, before 1st February, 2001 to:
   Mike O’Neill, USDA NRICGP, Mail Stop 2241, 1400 Independence Avenue, Washington,D.C. 20250-241, Fax: +202 401-6071, moneill@intranet.reeusda.gov

The Grove Karl Gilbert Award for Excellence in Geomorphic Research
The Grove Karl Gilbert Award is presented to the author(s) of a significant contribution to the published research literature in geomorphology during the past three years.  Only books, refereed journal articles, or monographs will be considered with an emphasis on refereed research articles.  Nominations for the Grove Karl Gilbert Award remain active for two years.  The nomination package should include (i) a copy of the relevant publication; (ii) a statement as to why the publication deserves the award, and (iii – optional) supporting letters from colleagues.  These materials and any supporting documentation should be sent before 1st February 2001 to:
  Mike O’Neill, USDA NRICGP, Mail Stop 2241, 1400 Independence Avenue, Washington,D.C. 20250-241, Fax: +202 401-6071, moneill@intranet.reeusda.gov

The Melvin G. Marcus Distinguished Career Award
The Melvin G. Marcus Distinguished Career Award is presented to an individual who has made significant contributions to geomorphology over his/her career. Nominations for the Melvin G. Marcus Distinguished Career Award remain active for two years. The nomination package should include: (i) a brief description of the candidate’s contribution to geomorphology; (ii) a brief biographic sketch; (iii) a select bibliography; and (iv) three letters of support from colleagues.  These materials and any supporting documentation should be sent before 1st February 2001 to:
Mike O’Neill, USDA NRICGP, Mail Stop 2241, 1400 Independence Avenue, Washington,D.C. 20250-241, Fax: +202 401-6071, moneill@intranet.reeusda.gov

3)  Chair’s Commentary

i. You and the Annals
There has been much grousing about the Annals in recent years.  The essence of the complaints is that the Annals is, for whatever reason, unrepresentative of the work undertaken by Physical Geographers.  I agree.  It is of immediate concern to us all, and as the new Environmental Sciences Section Editor I shall do my utmost to ensure this situation changes.  Nevertheless, change will not occur without your assistance!

My message to you, which I hope you will broadcast far and wide, is that I am happy to consider all manuscripts that contain original and significant research results and syntheses (the contents alone will dictate the length of the published paper).  The only proviso is that the research should have a conspicuous spatial dimension. Peer review alone will determine if a paper is good science that is sufficiently well developed to advance current understanding (the contents alone will dictate the length of the published paper). The review process will be no different to that employed by other journals in our field.  It will be conducted in a prompt (my policy is to allow four months for the completion of the review process), courteous and impartial manner.

You have a section editor who is entirely sympathetic to your perspective, and all Physical Geographers have a outlet for their work in a subject journal whose criteria for acceptance are based solely on the quality of the science that is reported. Other substantive changes to the Annals (which will be initiated in 2001) include a change to a larger (8.5x11 inch) format and the introduction of color.

My (or perhaps I should say our) objective is to increase paper pressure from the current 25 manuscripts a year (of which approximately 8 are published) to about 125 per year (of which I would hope to be able to publish 30-40 percent). If the manuscript flow increases more papers will be published, the journal will expand, and the likelihood is that the Science Citation Index will reinstate the Annals amongst its monitored journals.  This latter objective is why the section name ‘Environmental Sciences’ was selected, as opposed to the more obvious ‘Physical Geography’.  The Annals is the flagship journal of the North American geographic community, and it has an established international reputation.  Be aware, however, that if there is insufficient paper pressure the journal will not evolve in the manner Physical Geographers envisage, and its content will remain unchanged.  Thus I urge you to respond to this call for papers, and I encourage you to discuss the contents of this announcement with your students and colleagues.

I would be pleased to receive any comments you may have about the Annals, and your manuscripts!

ii. Geomorphology Speciality Group Blackwell Publishers Lecture
I believe that the group should develop a higher profile at the Annual meeting.  To this end I have prevailed upon Blackwell Publishers to sponsor (by lending it’s name and through a generous book grant) an annual topical lecture: the Geomorphology Speciality Group Blackwell Publishers Lecture.  The lecture will be of general interest to the geographical community as a whole, but will also highlight the type of work we geomorphologists collectively are involved in.  The speaker will be nominated by the GSG Chair, and the 45 minute long lecture will be given during the annual meeting.  I anticipate that it will be scheduled in time slot that does not overlap with other sessions and thus permits all interested persons to attend.  The title of the first lecture, which will be given during the New York meeting, will be Geomorphology and Society and the lecturer will be announced in the next newsletter.

Basil Gomez (Indiana State University) bgomez@indstate.edu

1. Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, New York 2001
     See GSG Business -- Announcements: Special Sessions in New York

2. Geomorphology

GSG members can subscribe to Geomorphology at a discounted rate of Dfl.184/US$93 for Volumes 30-35.  Subscription information may be obtained from Elsevier Science, Regional Sales Office, P.O. Box 945, New York, NY 10159-0945 (1-888-437-4636) usinfo-f@elsevier.com.  Additional information can also be found at  http://www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph.

3. ESP&L 

GSG members may join the British Geomorphological Research Group (BGRG) http://boris.qub.ac.uk/bgrg at the overseas member rate of £35($57) for five years and thereby subscribe to Earth Surface Processes and Landforms at the discounted rate (£55($90) for Volume 12).  The BGRG’s membership secretary is John Wainwright (King’s College London) john.wainwright@kcl.ac.uk.  Subscription information may be obtained from John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Subscription Department, 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012 (212-850-6021) subinfo@wiley.com

4. Resources for Earth Science and Geography Instruction

To give students access to web sites in the earth and environmental sciences, Mark Francek has developed, ‘Resources for Earth Science and Geography Instruction’ at:
   http://www.cmich.edu/~franc1m/homepage.htm
Mark also maintains a weekly ‘Earth Science Site of the Week’ listserv in which he reviews two of the most interesting sites found at the resource page. If you would like to be added to this listserv please contact Mark.
Mark Francek (Central Michigan University) Mark.Francek@cmich.edu

5) Other Meetings

Variability in the Nature, Quality and Transport of River Sediment (IAHS) -- July 10-14 mstone@fes.uwaterloo.ca

The Extreme of the Extremes (IAHS) -- July 17-19;   extremes2000@os.is

BGRG Annual Meeting -- September 12-24;  g.wiggs@sheffield.ac.uk

Karst 2000 -- September 17-72;  ukam@naim.jeo.hun.edu.tr

Binghamton 2000 - ‘Integration of Computer Modeling and Field Observation in Geomorphology’  October 13-15, 2000, Binghamton, NY;  http://www.unomaha.edu/~bing2000

International Association of Geomorphologists  -  5th International Conference on Geomorphology -- August 23-28, 2001
http://www.soc.nacsis.ac.jp/jgu

 

American Geophysical Union   -  http://earth.agu.org/kosmos/homepage.html
Association of American Geographers  -  http://www.agu.org/
British Geomorphological Research Group  -  http://boris.qub.ac.uk/bgrg
Canadian Geomorphological Research Group  -  http://office.geog.uvic.ca/dept/cgrg/cgrg.htm
European Union of Geosciences  -  http://www.indstate.edu/gomez/http;/eost.u-strasbg.fr/EUG
Geological Society of America  -  http://www.indstate.edu/gomez/http;//www.geolsociety.org
Geomorphology Speciality Group Homepage  -  http://www.cla.sc.edu/geog/gsgdocs
International Association of Geomorphologists  -  http://www.homepage.montana.edu/~ueswl/geomorphlist/index.htm
International Association of Sedimentologists  -  http://www.blackwell-science.com/uk/society/ias
International Union for Quaternary Research  -  http://inqua.nlh.no/
NSF – Geography and Regional Science  -  http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/bcs/geograph/start.htm
Quarternary Geology and Geomorphology Division – Geological Society of America  -  http://www.ocean.odu.edu/

2) GSG Members-- E-mail Addresses

Please take the time to ascertain your address and that of any colleagues you communicate with frequently is present and correct; it is difficult to keep track of the real and virtual movements of some 400 GSG members.