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Eiju Yatsu | |
|---|---|
 Eiju Yatsu in 2007 | |
| Born | July 20, 1920 |
| Died | December 15, 2016 (aged 96) |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geomorphology |
Eiju Yatsu (20 July 1920 - 15 December 2016) was a Japanese geomorphologist who taught in Japan, US and Canada. He is best known for his contributions to weathering and 'rock control' in geomorphology.
Eiju Yatsu was born in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan in 1920. In 1940, he entered the Tokyo Higher Normal School and studied literature and geography but then changed his interests to science. He graduated from the Tokyo University of Literature and Science in 1945 with a BSc, having studied physical geography, geology and geophysics. He then went on to do a wide range of postgraduate studies and was awarded a DSc from Tokyo University of Education[?] in 1957. From 1954 to 1966, he was assistant and then full professor at Chuo University (Tokyo), teaching earth sciences and engineering geology. He was visiting professor at Louisiana State University in 1965–66 and the University of Ottawa in 1966–69, and then became associate and then full professor at the University of Guelph. In 1976, he left Canada to return to Japan and became professor at the Institute of Geosciences, University of Tsukuba, where he taught geomorphology and rock mechanics. From 1980 to 1986, he was professor at Joetsu University of Education teaching environmental science.
Professor Yatsu is best known for several influential research texts in geomorphology. In particular, 'Rock Control in Geomorphology [1] ', written when Yatsu was in the Department of Geography at the University of Ottawa, although the book stemmed from lectures given at Louisiana State University. Yatsu indicates (Chapter 5, p. 125) the ethos and a definition of ‘rock control’:
Geomorphology should be constructed on a scientific basis, especially exact dating, correct of processes, and physico-chemical and mechanical understanding of rocks. The intention of this essay has not been to explain how rock controls are reflected in land forms, but to emphasize the importance of physicochemical and mechanical understanding of rocks in geomorphological studies and also to explain, to some degree, such thinking and methods of studying.
This emphasis on a scientific view of geomorphology was continued by his comprehensive (although cited as an Introduction) The Nature of Weathering [2] which covered basic rock mechanics and weathering organisms, both rarely included in more recent texts on weathering. The ideas of rock control in geomorphology are still relevant in explaining landforms. [3]
Yatsu's interest in the science of geomorphology also extended to philosophical aspects of the subject in a 'Great debate' about the subject. [4] This paper and one of 1992 [5] comprise Part 1 of Fantasia in Geomorphology. [6] Part 2 of this volume is a wide-ranging discussion of the philosophy and practice of geomorphology that includes Peirce's theory of abductive reasoning, Paul Feyerabend's 'anything goes' by way of 'Neurath's boat'.
Discussion of these views of the philosophy, or pragmatism, involved in geomorphology still continues. [7] [8]
In earth science, erosion is the action of surface processes that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distinct from weathering which involves no movement. Removal of rock or soil as clastic sediment is referred to as physical or mechanical erosion; this contrasts with chemical erosion, where soil or rock material is removed from an area by dissolution. Eroded sediment or solutes may be transported just a few millimetres, or for thousands of kilometres.
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant rocks, such as quartzite, given the right conditions. Subterranean drainage may limit surface water, with few to no rivers or lakes. However, in regions where the dissolved bedrock is covered or confined by one or more superimposed non-soluble rock strata, distinctive karst features may occur only at subsurface levels and can be totally missing above ground.
Physical geography is one of the two fields of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere, as opposed to the cultural or built environment, the domain of human geography.
Abductive reasoning is a form of logical inference formulated and advanced by American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce beginning in the last third of the 19th century. It starts with an observation or set of observations and then seeks the simplest and most likely conclusion from the observations. This process, unlike deductive reasoning, yields a plausible conclusion but does not positively verify it. Abductive conclusions are thus qualified as having a remnant of uncertainty or doubt, which is expressed in retreat terms such as "best available" or "most likely". One can understand abductive reasoning as inference to the best explanation, although not all usages of the terms abduction and inference to the best explanation are exactly equivalent.
Geomorphology is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or near the Earth's surface. Geomorphologists seek to understand why landscapes look the way they do, to understand landform and terrain history and dynamics and to predict changes through a combination of field observations, physical experiments and numerical modeling. Geomorphologists work within disciplines such as physical geography, geology, geodesy, engineering geology, archaeology, climatology and geotechnical engineering. This broad base of interests contributes to many research styles and interests within the field.
Spheroidal weathering is a form of chemical weathering that affects jointed bedrock and results in the formation of concentric or spherical layers of highly decayed rock within weathered bedrock that is known as saprolite. When saprolite is exposed by physical erosion, these concentric layers peel (spall) off as concentric shells much like the layers of a peeled onion. Within saprolite, spheroidal weathering often creates rounded boulders, known as corestones or woolsack, of relatively unweathered rock. Spheroidal weathering is also called onion skin weathering,concentric weathering,spherical weathering, or woolsack weathering.
In geomorphology, a butte is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word butte comes from a French word meaning knoll ; its use is prevalent in the Western United States, including the southwest where mesa is used for the larger landform. Due to their distinctive shapes, buttes are frequently landmarks in plains and mountainous areas. To differentiate the two landforms, geographers use the rule of thumb that a mesa has a top that is wider than its height, while a butte has a top that is narrower than its height.
Andrew Shaw Goudie is a geographer at the University of Oxford specialising in desert geomorphology, dust storms, weathering, and climatic change in the tropics. He is also known for his teaching and best-selling textbooks on human impacts on the environment. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of forty-one books and more than two hundred papers published in learned journals. He combines research and some teaching with administrative roles.
Physiographic regions of the world are a means of defining Earth's landforms into distinct regions, based upon the classic three-tiered approach by Nevin M. Fenneman in 1916, that separates landforms into physiographic divisions, physiographic provinces, and physiographic sections. Originally used in North America, the model became the basis for similar classifications of other continents, and was still considered valid as of 1951.
Sir Ronald Urwick Cooke, FRGS DL is a Professor of geography and geomorphology who was Vice-Chancellor of the University of York from 1993 to 2002.
Professor David Leslie Linton was a British geographer and geomorphologist, was professor of geography at Sheffield and Birmingham, best remembered for his work on the landscape development of south-east England with S. W. Wooldridge, and on the development of tors.
Planetary science is the scientific study of planets, celestial bodies and planetary systems and the processes of their formation. It studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas giants, aiming to determine their composition, dynamics, formation, interrelations and history. It is a strongly interdisciplinary field, which originally grew from astronomy and earth science, and now incorporates many disciplines, including planetary geology, cosmochemistry, atmospheric science, oceanography, hydrology, theoretical planetary science, glaciology, and exoplanetology. Allied disciplines include space physics, when concerned with the effects of the Sun on the bodies of the Solar System, and astrobiology.
A weathering rind is a discolored, chemically altered, outer zone or layer of a discrete rock fragment formed by the processes of weathering. The inner boundary of a weathering rind approximately parallels the outer surface of the rock fragment in which it has developed. Rock fragments with weathering rinds normally are discrete clasts, ranging in size from pebbles to cobbles or boulders. They typically occur either lying on the surface of the ground or buried within sediments such as alluvium, colluvium, or glacial till. A weathering rind represents the alteration of the outer portion of a rock by exposure to air or near surface groundwater over a period of time. Typically, a weathering rind may be enriched with either iron or manganese, and silica, and oxidized to a yellowish red to reddish color. Often a weathering rind exhibits multiple bands of differing colors.
Professor Bernard John Smith was an English geomorphologist and physical geographer. He was born in the English village of Beer in Dorset where he attended the local school until the family's relocation to London.
In climatic geomorphology morphoclimatic zones are areas which are characterised by landforms associated with a particular climate. The geomorphological processes involved with distinct climates can have large impacts on the near-surface geology of the area.
Julius Büdel was a German geomorphologist noted for his work on the influence of climate in shaping landscapes and landforms. In his work Büdel stressed the importance of inherited landforms in present-day landscapes and argued that many landforms are the result of a combination of processes, and not of a single process. Büdel estimated that 95% of mid-latitude landforms are relict. Büdel studied both cold-climate processes in Svalbard and "tropical" weathering processes in India to understand the origin of the relief of Central Europe, which he argued was a palimpsest of landforms formed at different times and under different climates. For Central Europe Büdel concluded that in Late Cretaceous to Early Pliocene times etchplains formed. Then in Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene times a transition period occurred in landscape forming processes. Finally in the Late Pleistocene periglaciation and deep permafrost made Central Europe a place of "excessive valley cutting". Holocene developments would not have affected much of the landscape other than adding a deep soil cover.
Jean Tricart was a French geomorphologist. In 1948 he became professor at the University of Strasbourg where he remained for the rest of his career. The Tricart's doctoral thesis dealt with the Paris Basin and resulted in a publication acclaimed in France. He collaborated often with his friend André Cailleux. Beginning in 1962 he and Callieux published a band of five works on the subject of geomorphology and climate, publishing the last one in 1974. The bulk of his works were published in French.
Sampat Kumar Tandon is an Indian geologist and a professor emeritus of geology at the University of Delhi. He is a former pro-vice chancellor of Delhi University, Sir J. C. Bose Chair Professor of the department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal and a D. N. Wadia Chair Professor of the department of Earth Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
Levan Iosifovich Maruashvili was a prominent Georgian geographer. Doctor of Geographical Sciences (1954), professor (1965). Honored Scientist of the Georgian SSR (1966) and Abkhaz ASSR. Honorary member of the Russian Geographical Society (1985). He introduced a new concept of Karstosphere into the science. Krubera Cave, which is the world’s deepest known cave, was discovered by the Georgian researchers in 1960 by the leadership of Professor Levan Maruashvili.
Heather Viles is a Professor of Biogeomorphology and Heritage Conservation in the School of Geography and the Environment at Oxford University, Senior Fellow at Worcester College, and Honorary Professor at the Institute of Sustainable Heritage, University College London. She is a Fellow of the British Society for Geomorphology.
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