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4 - Mountain hazards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2011

By
Olav Slaymaker
Edited by
Irasema Alcántara-Ayala  and
Andrew S. Goudie
Irasema Alcántara-Ayala
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City
Andrew S. Goudie
Affiliation:
St Cross College, Oxford
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Summary

Introduction to mountain geomorphic hazards

Mountain geomorphic hazards defined

A geomorphic hazard results from any landform or landscape change that adversely affects the geomorphic stability of a site or drainage basin (Schumm, 1988) and that intersects the human use system with adverse socio-economic impacts (White, 1974). If there are no people affected, there is no hazard and if the landform or landscape is unchanged there is no geomorphic hazard. Barsch and Caine (1984) have described the distinctive relief typologies of major mountain systems. Mountain geosystems are not exceptionally fragile but they show a greater range of vulnerability to disturbance than many landscapes (Körner and Ohsawa, 2005) and their recovery rate after disturbance is often slow. During the past three decades, the world's population has doubled, the mountain regions' population has more than tripled and stresses on the physical and biological systems of mountain regions have intensified many fold. The combination of extreme geophysical events with exceptional population growth and land use modifications underlines the urgency of better understanding of these interactions and working out the implications for adaptation to and mitigation of the effects of drivers of change on landforms and landscapes. Geomorphic hazards intensify and risks multiply accordingly.

The major drivers of change and ‘key’ vulnerability

The three drivers of environmental change in mountains are relief, as a proxy for tectonics (Tucker and Slingerland, 1994), hydroclimate and runoff (Vandenberghe, 2002) and human activity (Coulthard and Macklin, 2001).

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Geomorphological Hazards and Disaster Prevention , pp. 33 - 48
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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