Talk:Landform/Archive 1

Archive 1

Pediment

Can anyone say something about pediments and pediplains in geomorphology? ACrush ^?!/_© 08:32, 12 April 2006 (UTC)45565576556

straits

straits are not listed on this page. Should they be? Hmains 05:30, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Straits are geographic features, but they are not considered landforms. --orlady 16:32, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Why? Virtually everything else about water seems to be listed, including gulfs, bays, even oceans! Thanks Hmains 17:22, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

I see your point. Either (1) this article is mistitled or (2) it includes many elements that should not be listed. Depending on which answer one chooses, either (1) the current contents should be renamed to "Terms for geographic features" (leaving a need for another article about the narrower topic of landforms) or (2) many listed elements (such as ocean, river, boondocks, lagoon, and rock formation) should be removed from the article.--orlady 18:06, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

list of landforms

The list of landforms in this article divides landforms by type, but what constitutes each type is not defined and not always obvious. Can someone add this info? Also are the types all inclusive? Are there other types not listed? And the instances of the types are not complete. Where are flat grassland plains, for example? Thanks Hmains 17:39, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

• I am new to this article and noticed the same things you did. There certainly are items missing. I have disambiguated some. Cuvette 22:31, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

capitalization

In the lists of landforms, any good reason why some are capitalized and some are not. It looks random. And it seems none should be capitalized according to use rules of such. Hmains 02:57, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

• Agree with your observation that they should all follow the same caps rule. I think most lists on wikipedia have the first letter of the first word capitalised, which version i would mildly favour. But in any case they should all be the same. Cuvette 22:35, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

forests, prairies, grasslands

Do forests, prairies, and grasslands belong in the Category:Landforms or the Category:Natural history or somewhere else? They are not listed in this article. Should they be? Hmains 00:48, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

• Forests, prairies, deserts, rain forests, tundra, grasslands, etc., are not landforms. The proper topic is somewhere in ecology. --orlady 03:13, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Some of these probably could go in Category:Ecoregions. Cuvette 04:11, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

basins

ok, people: the Category:Basins says 'all' basins are landforms, so what category (ies) of landform do these assorted basins (Category:basins) belong to? Hmains 02:45, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

I have begun to add the basin types for which we have articles to the landform list. thanks for bringing up these obscure basins as they need a home. they fall under different sub sections of the landform article since some are fluvial and some are oceanic in origin. as far as the place name basins, their cat would presumably be under the country or region (e.g Category:Geography of India. by the way, Hmains, thanks for all the work you do with categories. i have observed your countless efforts with cats and other matters and you are awesome. Cuvette 04:10, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

aeolian landforms

can someone differentiate between aeolian landforms and erosion landforms and reorg several of this article's sections accordingly? Hmains (talk) 02:31, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

Aeolian landforms are formed by the wind or aeolian processes. Fluvial landforms are formed by flowing water. I would say that both aeolian and fluvial landforms are mostly erosional but they also include depositional landforms. For example, loess is an aeolian deposit of windblown dust and dunes are formed by a combination of erosion and deposition. Perhaps we could take items in the "erosion landforms" category and reclassify them as aeolian, fluvial, glacial, etc. User: Leaflet 09:55, 04 August 2008

Tundra seems to be no aeolian landform then and should be removed from there... User: LinguistManiac Wed Mar 24 22:21:16 CET 2010 —Preceding undated comment added 20:21, 24 March 2010 (UTC).

2 columns

2 columns are good, but they should be spread out across the page, not pushed up against the left side. How to do this? Hmains (talk) 00:48, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

reservoirs

Landforms appear to only involve natural features. So are reservoirs (as man-made lakes) landforms or not? Please discuss. Hmains (talk) 03:50, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

RFC

• This is not a dispute (as yet), but rather an attempt to determine the best handling of reservoirs. [Natural] lakes are classified correctly as landforms by means of the category structure. But then reservoirs are classified as a type of lake and end up in the lake category structure and thus a landform. The question is: 1) should reservoirs be part of the landform category structure? or 2) should reservoirs be part of the geography category structure (or something else) but not part of the landform structure? Hmains (talk) 19:20, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

• OED has "A physical feature of the earth's surface such as a hill, plain, cirque, or alluvial fan." MW has "a natural feature of a land surface." AHD has "One of the features that make up the earth's surface, such as a plain, mountain, or valley." Dictionary.com has four sources, one of which duplicates the AHD. Of the other three, one says that landforms are natural and the other two do not restrict the definition as such. So among these dictionaries, at least, it's four to two in favor of the less restricted definition. The OED quotes from a writer who explicitly included non-natural features or modifications as landforms. I would say to include reservoirs as landforms, but maybe put an asterisk by them at Category:Landforms and a note indicating that some sources reserve the term "landform" for natural features. --Atemperman (talk) 16:47, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

• I would add that many reservoirs, in fact maybe all of them, are created by building dams to either create lakes or expand existing ones. So they were totally natural landforms to begin with.

  A while back, at WikiProject Lakes, we discussed whether to have a separate reservoirs project, and consensus was not in favor of it. So I don't think a distinction needs to be drawn here, either. Daniel Case (talk) 20:08, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

• Include in landfordms. Does it really matter if it was made by 10 million years of rainfall or by 10 years of digging? Now it's natural. Hope we can draw a line between a man-made lake and a plain water cistern. NVO (talk) 21:09, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Impact Craters not landforms ?

Since when ? Other articles such as impact crater refer to them as landforms. A citation reasoning why they are not landforms should be included if it is to stay in the article. --EvenGreenerFish (talk) 23:09, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Agreed. Changed the article. Libcub (talk) 03:33, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

• There is nothing in the Geomorphology study of landforms article that indicates impact craters are a landform. Hmains (talk) 04:02, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

• • But why not? What criteria are there for considering something a landform or not? And under what criterium are craters (or even deserts, for that matter) excluded? CodeCat (talk) 02:43, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

• • • Impact craters are landforms as they have a very distinct geomorphic expression that can be seen on a topographic maps and in aerial photography and other remote sensing. That there is nothing in the Geomorphology study of landforms about impact craters is utterly meaningless. This lack of reference to them only means that the Geomorphology article needs to be rewritten to mention impact craters. On the other hand, not all impact structures have enough geomorphic expression to qualify as a landform, Paul H. (talk) 03:05, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Bodies of water as Land-Forms

Are bodies of water truly landforms? Bodies of water are not land, nor are they a form of it. In fact, they fill in the form of land, basically the lowest depression/basin of a landform. Just as a cave is not a landform, because it's exactly the absence of land. Seems like waterform would be a better word for oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and ponds. Leitmotiv (talk) 23:53, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

I have the exact same question. Sol Pacificus (talk) 03:50, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

The landform is the depression or basin that holds the water. Without the holding landform - the water would not be there. The "body of water" simply fills the existing depression. "Waterform" ... is that a term used in the references ... or an invention (WP:OR)? As for caves - seems a "hole in the ground" is a landform, but the air or water filling the hole isn't. Vsmith (talk) 13:47, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

I get your meaning, but when bodies of water are referred to, they aren't discussing the land, but specifically the body of water. It would seem to me if the land was the focus of discussion the sentences describing them would concern the depressions, canyons, faults, basins, that hold the water. Caves are a little less clear, even though the very definition of a cave is the void within the land. You can't have a cave without land, but the content within a cave can include features of water, rock, archaeology and biology. I guess its a case of dealing with the marriage of two separate things. Bodies of water are clearly held together by landforms and those are discussed at length, but the body of water is often described distinctly and separately from landforms. Bodies of water are of such expansive water substance that they should be distinct as atmosphere is from land and from water. Entirely different compounds with entirely different repercussions. Leitmotiv (talk) 17:55, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

Both of you make compelling arguments, but I think Leitmotiv has it right. Vsmith, can you substantiate your definition with a source because I'm having trouble finding one. Sol Pacificus (talk) 21:18, 29 March 2018 (UTC)