Reality of climatic geomorphology in Turkey

Abstract

The concept of Climatic Geomorphology, which was first used by de Martonne in 1913, has been adopted in many countries since the beginning of the 20th century and numerous studies have been carried out on the subject by many people. Emphasizing the importance of climate in the formation, development and distribution of landforms, this approach was initially shaped around the ideas and studies of W.M.Davis. In this period, researchers have been trying to divide the earth into morphogenetic regions. The approach gained its highest momentum between the years 1950-1980. Today, this approach shows itself mostly in applied geomorphology/climatology studies and studies on global climate change. Climatic geomorphology entered the Turkish academic community late and did not receive much attention. Climatic geomorphology approach was introduced to Turkish literature in 1992 by Prof.Dr.Oğuz Erol. However, due to the lack of interest in this subject in Turkey, studies have remained limited. Within the scope of this research, various available data (reports, articles, books, dictionaries, journals, encyclopedias and maps) were examined one by one and a wide-ranging survey was conducted. The relevant parts of the foreign sources, which constitute an important part of the study, were translated into Turkish, a case study emphasizing the importance of the subject was made, the research problem was developed, and the framework to be studied was determined. Thus, it is aimed to re-introduce climatic geomorphology to the literature of our country, to emphasize its importance once again, and to give an impetus to Turkish geomorphologists and those who are interested in the subject.