Synopsis top ↑
Few publications exist in English on the landforms in the Federal
Republic of Germany. It is hoped that this book, which is published in
connection with the Second International Conference on Geomorphology
(Frankfurt am Main, 1989) fills, to some extent, that gap.
Following a general introduction, four papers describe and discuss the
major land-form regions. They provide the background for the other
papers and, in addition to covering basic factual information, also
deal with major questions of landform development that have long been
of particular interest to German geomorphologists. In the North German
Lowlands, H. Liedtke discusses the chronology of the Pleistocene
glaciations and the relationship between the age of glacial
depositional landforms and their subsequent modification by
non-glacial processes. In the Central Uplands north of the rivers Main
and Nahe, W. Andres directs attention to the conflicting
interpretations of the effects of tectonics and of past climates in
the development of Tertiary planation surfaces and Quaternary river
terraces. In the South German Scarplands, H. Bremer focuses on the
role of structural and climatic controls in the long-term evolution of
cuestas and valleys. K. Fischer discusses the effects of the complex
nappe structure, of the lithology and of exogenic processes upon the
landforms of the German Alps and the development of glacial,
glaciofluvial and periglacial landforms in the Alpine Foreland. Most
of the remaining papers are studies of smaller regions or local
areas. Their sequence in this volume is arranged more or less
regionally; their geographical locations are shown in fig.l
(p.2). Several of these papers expand on themes in the general
regional papers and examine, sometimes from differing points of view,
particular aspects of landform development in detail. The wide variety
of topics reflects in some measure the trends in geomorphological
research in the Federal Republic.
A number of the papers deal with structural landforms and their
relationship to planation surfaces. Two papers discuss Pleistocene
glacial and glacio-fluvial landforms in type regions of particular
interest. Karst and paleo-karst landforms and processes are
investigated in three papers, Quaternary valley development and
present-day sediment yields in several others. The relationships
between geomorphology and hydrology, geoecology and soils are
considered in papers on groundwater quality, interflow, soil
formation, soil erosion and the diagnostic value of loess. A brief
paper reviews the status of geomorphological mapping in the Federal
Republic.