Perspectives on submarine geomorphology : an introduction

Abstract

Submarine geomorphology, the study of landforms and processes within the submarine domain, is a young discipline that owes its birth to technological achievements that made it possible to explore the underwater sphere of our Earth system. Submarine domains represent over 70% of Earth’s surface, i.e. the largest geomorphic system on our planet (more than twice the size of what we can observe on Earth’s land surface). From the middle of the last century onwards, technological advances have led to more and more high-performance acoustic equipment and robotic underwater systems, enabling us to depict and investigate, in ever greater detail, parts of the ocean floor long thought to be unfathomable. The present chapter gives an overview of the extent to which technological progress has strongly determined the way in which the study of landscapes and landforms within the submarine domain is approached, creating substantial differences to approaches used in classical studies of geomorphology. Main drivers of seafloor geomorphic changes are introduced to provide a representative summary of the variety of landforms generated by the action of a range of tectonic, sedimentary, and bio-geochemical processes, including the impact of human activity. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion on the relevance of the applied value of submarine geomorphological research, its new trends, and the key contribution it is providing to confirming the importance of geomorphology to the full range of Earth system sciences and environment-related topics.