Physical experiments in geomorphology

Abstract

AbstractAn experiment is a programme of observations specially constructed to provide a critical test of theory or generalization about nature. It is designed to acquire firm evidence for or against the effect in question. Accordingly, it must be arranged to control all sources of variability contributing to the phenomena under examination, save those it is intended to study. In the natural environment, this is difficult to achieve. Consequently, classical geomorphology had no established tradition of experimentation. However, in the latter third of the twentieth century, geomorphologists began to explore experimentation as a means to resolve questions that arise in the study of geomorphological processes. In the period 1976–84, an IGU Commission on Field Experiments in Geomorphology formally established an interest in the approach. Although few field studies before the turn of the century achieved experimental status, valuable experience was gained in laboratory experiments, scaled and unscaled, leading to present wide acceptance of experimentation as a means to approach questions about geomorphological processes.