1. Theoretical knowledge for the understanding of landforms and the processes responsible for their formation and their interaction with human activities.

2. Practical skills to recognise, describe and interpret the geomorphological processes and to evaluate the hydrogeological risk through photointerpretation, remote sensing, and field survey.

3. Abilities to plan a project aimed at interpreting the geomorphological processes and their role in causing land degradation.

1.    Introduction to geomorphology 
Principles, definitions, and objectives. Morphogenetic agents and processes. Physical environment and human activity impact, vulnerability, and risk. Sustainable development.

2.    Role of the geological factors in relief modeling
Tectonic and structural landforms. Tectonic and drainage development. 

3.    Weathering and soils
Weathering and related landforms. Pedogenesis. Soil erosion.

4.    Karst
Dissolution and precipitation of calcium carbonate. Karstic landforms and processes. 

5.    Slope processes
Movements of the regolith. Landslides. 

6.    Land subsidence
Natural and human-induced land subsidence.

7.    Fluvial geomorphology
River forms and processes. The different types of channels. Terraces and fans.

8.    Coastal geomorphology
Littoral forms and processes. Characteristics of the different types of coast. 

9.    Climatic geomorphology
Forms and processes of glacial, periglacial and arid morphoclimatic systems.

10.    Soil conservation
Concepts of soil conservation. Land degradation. Introduction of remote sensing (e.g. satellite-based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar techniques) as a tool for monitoring the hydrogeological risks.  
 

Physical Geography

Knowledge and understanding: the student must be able to understand the action of the morphogenetic agents on the landforms in different morphoclimatic settings.

Applying knowledge and understanding: the student will be able to apply the theoretical knowledge to recognise the landforms and the hydrogeological risk in order to predict their evolution by using photointerpretation, remote sensing, and fieldwork skills.

Making judgements: the student will be able to develop autonomous abilities to collect and interpret data on landforms and geomorphological processes. Furthermore, the student will be able to formulate judgements about the interaction between the geomorphological environments and human activities.

Communication skills: the student will acquire a technical-scientific language for discussing information with specialists. The student will be able to communicate the basic concepts of "geomorphology and soil conservation" to non-specialist audiences.

Learning skills: the student will be able to autonomously investigate specific topics, not discussed in the course, by means of scientific texts. The basic concepts of the course represent fundamental requirements for the Master's degree in Environmental Geology and Land Management.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Field work.

Teaching

The course will take place through a continuous interaction between lectures, field and laboratory works, and team working.

Innovative teaching methods

The course includes:
- frontal lectures;
- team working;
- preparation of a presentation;
- field work.

Innovative teaching

The face-to-face teaching method will be enriched with individual and group exercises and insights that students will carry out using the University's Moodle platform. Some topics of the course will be treated following the following practices:

• problem-based learning;
• learning by doing;
• flipped lesson.

Attendance

Attending the course is not a requirement, but it is strongly recommended.

Course books

PANIZZA M. (2014) – Geomorfologia. Pitagora Ed.

CASTIGLIONI G.B. (1991) - Geomorfologia. UTET.

CICCACCI S. (2015) – Le forme del rilievo. Mondadori Università.

Assessment

The final grade will be given by an oral exam.

The exam involves an evaluation that is expressed as a grade of out of 30.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

The teaching material prepared by the teacher (such as slides, handouts, exercises) and the specific communications from the teacher can be found, together with other support activities, within the Moodle platform ›blended.uniurb.it (http://blended.uniurb.it/).

Attendance

No obligations.

Course books

PANIZZA M. (2014) – Geomorfologia. Pitagora Ed.

CASTIGLIONI G.B. (1991) - Geomorfologia. UTET.

CICCACCI S. (2015) – Le forme del rilievo. Mondadori Università.

Assessment

The final grade will be given by an oral exam.

The exam involves an evaluation that is expressed as a grade of out of 30.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

The course contributes to realizing the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to achieve the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG 11 - Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
SDG 15 - Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss.