What forces have shaped the appearance of the landscapes we see every day ?

Can the ordinary person use some easily understood tools to interpret the landscape for themselves ?

Is what we see the result of the millions of years of uniform erosion or can geomorphology, the appearance of the earths topology be better understood through the lens of watery catastrophe and high energy processes ?

Using a flume tank we will demonstrate live, the phenomena of slope progradation, the behaviour of fast flowing water and simple sedimentary mechanics and the formation of planation surfaces, the most common geomorphological feature on the planet.

Using powerpoint slides we will discuss well known geomorphological features around the world such as table mountain and the kalahari basin and a catastrophic model for continental basins, coastal and inland escarpements, canyons, maritime continental shelves and the preponderence of planation surfaces, peneplains and mountain ranges in geomorphology.

The talk is intended for the ordinary person and requires no previous knowlege of the natural sciences and its content is accesible to all.