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Physically, river floodplains have both the subdued morphology of natural terrain created as extreme discharges and sediments pass through catchment drainage systems and, to an increasing extent, the forms that arise from purposeful human constructions. Together, these direct out-of-channel inundation. As defined here, 'territories' and their humanly constructed physical forms have historically consumed or modified naturally created 'terrains' in a collection of actions that we summarize as 'morphophagia'. A more inclusive physical geography is presented, adding-in explanations for the evolutionary phasing of humanly-generated, but environmentally functioning, physical forms in the UK in the Modern Era (since c.1500 CE). Floodplain developments here took place in five main episodes of historically-contingent accumulation: the Early Modern (c.1500–1780 CE) started with a framework of purposeful owned land, and then followed periods that can be related to Kondratieff global economic phases (c.1790–1840,1840–1900,1900–1947,1947–2000 CE). Three different groups of forcings operated: (1) the compartmentalizing and patched infill patterns set by territorial units, rights and developer ownerships; (2) the availability, motivations and timings for capital and labour investment; and (3) the evolving technical possibilities exploited by entrepreneurs and agents. Epistemic frameworks for broadening the analysis of coupled terrain and territory systems, exploring actuating social forces as much as their symptomatic physical outcomes, are discussed. Globally, there have been different forcings, timings and emplacement layouts operating at scales from local river reaches to city expansion and economic regions. As perceptions of environmental stasis now disintegrate, enthusiasm for reinvigorating economic growth, with further population increase and sprawling construction may, as in the past, discount the hazards of floodplain occupation. When and why risky anthropo-physical floodplain emplacements occur needs greater systematic understanding as social and economic initiatives are being considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global environmental change is one of the most pressing issues facing future generations. Equipping schoolchildren with a clear understanding of physical geography is therefore a key educational priority. Effectively engaging schoolchildren with complex scientific ideas can be challenging, but with the appropriate tools, scientists can play a valuable role in developing meaningful science communication experiences. Climate Explorers addressed these issues by forging a collaboration between physical geography and social science academics, and 320 UK school students and their teachers in seven primary (elementary) schools. Using insights from co-production techniques and storytelling, the project aimed to 1) produce new open access, online climate science education resources, and 2) test co-production and storytelling approaches to physical geography science engagement. Our findings demonstrated that school children responded especially well to working with 'real life' scientists, where meaningful and memorable educational interactions were forged through the use of narratives, personal experiences and tailored language. Here we summarise our approach, and provide templates that can be readily applied by scientists working across the physical geography spectrum anywhere in the world. The flexibility of the templates means that they can be adapted and developed for a range of formats, from small-scale community workshops to national-scale educational initiatives, for delivery both in-person or online. We hope that our approach will provide a springboard to transform and enhance physical geography science communication more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Glastir Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (GMEP) ran from 2013 until 2016, and was probably the most comprehensive programme of ecological study ever undertaken at a national scale in Wales. The programme aimed to (1) set up an evaluation of the environmental effects of the Glastir agri-environment scheme and (2) quantify environmental status and trends across the wider countryside of Wales. The focus was on outcomes for climate change mitigation, biodiversity, soil and water quality, woodland expansion and cultural landscapes. As such, GMEP included a large field survey component, collecting data on a range of elements including vegetation, land cover and use, soils, freshwaters, birds and insect pollinators from up to 300 1 km squares throughout Wales. The field survey capitalised upon the UKCEH Countryside Survey of Great Britain, which has provided an extensive set of repeated, standardised ecological measurements since 1978. The design of both GMEP and the UKCEH Countryside Survey involved stratified-random sampling of squares from a 1 km grid, ensuring proportional representation from land classes with distinct climate, geology and physical geography. Data were collected from different land cover types and landscape features by trained professional surveyors, following standardised and published protocols. Thus, GMEP was designed so that surveys could be repeated at regular intervals to monitor the Welsh environment, including the impacts of agri-environment interventions. One such repeat survey is scheduled for 2021 under the Environment and Rural Affairs Monitoring and Modelling Programme (ERAMMP). Data from GMEP have been used to address many applied policy questions, but there is major potential for further analyses. The precise locations of data collection are not publicly available, largely for reasons of landowner confidentiality. However, the wide variety of available datasets can be (1) analysed at coarse spatial resolutions and (2) linked to each other based on square-level and plot-level identifiers, allowing exploration of relationships, trade-offs and synergies. This paper describes the key sets of raw data arising from the field survey at co-located sites, 2013 to 2016. Data from each of these survey elements are available with the following Digital Object Identifiers. Landscape features, https://doi.org/10.5285/82c63533-529e-47b9-8e78-51b27028cc7f, https://doi.org/10.5285/9f8d9cc6-b552-4c8b-af09-e92743cdd3de, https://doi.org/10.5285/f481c6bf-5774-4df8-8776-c4d7bf059d40; Vegetation plots, https://doi.org/10.5285/71d3619c-4439-4c9e-84dc-3ca873d7f5cc; Topsoil physico-chemical properties, https://doi.org/10.5285/0fa51dc6-1537-4ad6-9d06-e476c137ed09; Topsoil meso-fauna, https://doi.org/10.5285/1c5cf317-2f03-4fef-b060-9eccbb4d9c21; Topsoil particle size distribution https://doi.org/10.5285/d6c3cc3c-a7b7-48b2-9e61-d07454639656; Headwater stream quality metrics, https://doi.org/10.5285/e305fa80-3d38-4576-beef-f6546fad5d45 ; Pond quality metrics, https://doi.org/10.5285/687b38d3-2278-41a0-9317-2c7595d6b882; Insect pollinator and flower data, https://doi.org/10.5285/3c8f4e46-bf6c-4ea1-9340-571fede26ee8; Bird counts, https://doi.org/10.5285/31da0a94-62be-47b3-b76e-4bdef3037360. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a reflection on Tivers' (1978) paper from a physical geography point of view. I discuss four elements of the original paper: the increase in women in the field of geography, fieldwork, family role, and "everyday sexism." Alongside this, I provide a reflection of my own experience as a UK physical geographer over the last 40 years and discuss the major changes over that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrology teaching deals with processes happening outside the classroom, which calls for active-learning methods to complement lectures. In a geography undergraduate course, new teaching methods and assessment were designed, in which students investigated a river of their choice by completing homework tasks and presenting their results on a poster. During a 3-year implementation process, the changes were evaluated using a combination of formal and informal student and lecturer feedback. Students mentioned that they enjoyed doing the project and that it helped their understanding of theory, their research skills, and their ability to select, organize and present information. Questionnaire results showed that, over the implementation period, students' perceived value of homework increased strongly, while their perceived value of lectures remained high. In informal feedback, students noted that they enjoyed learning about where they live, preferred doing the projects individually and seeing each other's projects, and spent more time on the coursework when assessed. When looking back in interviews, students commented that the projects had prepared them well for their dissertation and summer job. The advantage of using homework-based projects complementing lectures is the strong link between theory and practice, which could be further enhanced by discussing the homework in the lectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates how planetary science could be integrated into other courses, specifically geography and astronomy, at two universities in Hungary and the UK. We carried out both a classroom course and an online course over several years. The methods used and the experiences gained, including feedback from students and useful examples for other educators, are summarized. We found that it is possible to integrate planetary science into geography-related subjects and that planetary science can be used to encourage the students to uncover gaps in their knowledge and also to help to synthesize information they have learnt from different disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Within Britain, geography as a discipline has been criticized recently for failing either to add to or teach knowledge about the world at large. Instead it has concentrated first at university and then in schools on spatial social science, with examples drawn overwhelmingly from the white Western world. The recent history of geography is reviewed to see why this should be the case. The end of regional integration, the end of the idiographic, and the divorce of physical and human geography are lamented. The ignorance of current students regarding world affairs is demonstrated. Wider influences on these trends such as the end of empire are discussed. The plight of other academic attempts to understand overseas cultures, such as area studies, is also examined. The paper concludes that for the sake of our social responsibility to education in its broadest sense, as much as for the sake of our disciplinary vested interests, we have to reinvest in integrating physical and human geography in regional settings, as our part of academe's response to the threat to area studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Upper Cretaceous Chalk hills of the South Downs form the southern flank of the Wealden anticline in south-east England, with older Wealden and Purbeck sediments exposed at its core. With prominent chalk escarpments on each side of it, this major structure is up to 70 km wide, and extends eastwards for over 200 km from eastern Hampshire to the area around Boulogne-sur-Mer in Northern France, dissected by the English Channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River basins in Great Britain and Ireland have been characterized by periods of hillslope and valley floor instability during the Holocene, reflecting sensitivity to both climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. In contrast to climatic controls, which have been relatively well documented, human impacts on and interactions with river basins remain unclear. There is now, however, a growing impetus to elucidate more fully the impact of anthropogenic activity on sediment supply and runoff, given that land-use change is thought to have exacerbated recent flooding in the UK (eg, the 'Millennium' floods of 2000). The aim of this paper is to critically review the significance of Holocene land use on hillslope and valley floor stability in Great Britain and Ireland. The most widely reported impacts of land-use change on geomorphic activity include hillslope erosion and gully development, valley floor alluviation, river channel incision and elevated water tables. In the majority of cases, however, causal relationships are difficult to establish, due primarily to inadequate dating control. Even where geomorphic instability can be linked to land-use change, it is apparent that eroded material is often stored as colluvium, which together with evidence of diachronus hillslope and valley floor instability, raises important questions and identifies uncertainties regarding the dynamics and extent of sediment transfer within river basins. Such uncertainty has important implications for understanding how river basins will behave in response to future environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geomorphological and sedimentological evidence of former glaciation in the Bizzle valley in the Cheviot Hills of northern England and southern Scotland was used to reconstruct the dimensions of a small topographically constrained glacier with an equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of 535 m. This was interpreted as having formed during Younger Dryas cooling; this is the only glacier to have been described from the area and is the most easterly site of Younger Dryas glaciation in the British Isles. Whilst glaciation at this time was extensive in the Lake District to the southwest, the restricted nature of Cheviot ice cover suggests that a steep west-east precipitation gradient existed in this region during the Younger Dryas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the relationships between the distribution of British ground beetle species and climatic and altitude variables with a view to developing models for evaluating the impact of climate change.Data from 1684 10-km squares in Britain were used to model species–climate/altitude relationships. A validation data set was composed of data from 326 British 10-km squares not used in the model data set.The relationships between incidence and climate and altitude variables for 137 ground beetle species were investigated using logistic regression. The models produced were subjected to a validation exercise using the Kappa statistic with a second data set of 30 species. Distribution patterns for four species were predicted for Britain using the regression equations generated.As many as 136 ground beetle species showed significant relationships with one or more of the altitude and climatic variables but the amount of variation explained by the models was generally poor. Models explaining 20% or more of the variation in species incidence were generated for only 10 species. Mean summer temperature and mean annual temperature were the best predictors for eight and six of these 10 species respectively. Few models based on altitude, annual precipitation and mean winter temperature were good predictors of ground beetle species distribution. The results of the validation exercise were mixed, with models for four species showing good or moderate fits whilst the remainder were poor.Whilst there were many significant relationships between British ground beetle species distributions and altitude and climatic variables, these variables did not appear to be good predictors of ground beetle species distribution. The poor model performance appears to be related to the coarse nature of the response and predictor data sets and the absence of key predictors from the models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The popularity of physical geography at all levels of formal education is declining. This paper argues that a key factor in the decline may be the disparity between geographies studied within formal education and the popular geographies encountered during leisure pursuit. Through the example of the Jurassic Coast Project, an initiative for the interpretation of Dorset's coastal landscape, approaches towards the integration of popular and academic geographies are explored. Drawing explicit links between popular experiences and academic knowledge may benefit physical geography, improving its status amongst public and student audiences, and addressing the concerns that surround its decline within higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides a map of the status and achievements of the British Geography from 1996 to 2000. Discussion on the institutional environment of the British Geography; Report on the trends and developments and achievements of physical geography; Details on the trends in human geography and its sub-disciplines; Theoretical debates concerning British human geography.

This is the second of three progress reports on coastal research. Because it would be impossible to review all the research done on coastal environments, even when restricted to the contributions published in one year, I have attempted to use these progress reports to introduce physical geographers to coastal research which does not generally appear in geographical journal or textbooks. The year 1997 was one in which several large multi-institutional research projects neared completion, as well as a year in which a number of new projects began. This year?s report will discuss some of these large research projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the prior learning in physical geography of two cohorts of students on entry to a geography degree in the UK. Expectations of prior learning guide degree course planning at level 1, yet many lecturers in higher education are unlikely to have an appreciation of the recent heterogeneity of the geography curriculum for school years 12 and 13 (the old 'sixth form'). A questionnaire survey of 226 students identified differences in comprehension of terminology and in topic coverage between students who had experienced the '16-19' course and students who had followed other syllabuses. However, a familiarity with the subject of physical geography through teaching based on issues was not confined to the '16-19' group, and students who had experienced a purely systematic introduction to physical geography at A level were in a minority. First-year undergraduates have prior learning which is different in nature from that experienced by most of their lecturers. Their knowledge base is reduced and their expectations will be of issues-based learning. The dilemma for first-year degree course planners is how to bring systematic (and transferable) knowledge of physical systems for all students up to a level from which degree level can then be attained without losing the motivation previously provided by the immediacy of issues-based learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines problems in training British undergraduates for self-directed field research projects in physical geography. Educational value of research projects; Implementation; Integrated field and laboratory training in small groups; Value of rethinking the delivery of modules in preparing students for self-directed research projects; Use of home areas for such projects.

Reports on the views of Ronald Peel on the nature of desert geomorphology in Great Britain. Explanation about the questions of the climatic history of the present arid zone; Evidences for more humid conditions; Difficulty in quantifying the degree of climate change.

The article provides information on the Wiley Publisher's Area Prize for New Research in Geography in Great Britain. It offers a background on Area Prize 2016 winner Brendon Blue of the University of Auckland in New Zealand for his paper "But What Do You Measure?" Prospects for a Constructive Critical Physical Geography," and outlines the purpose of the Area Prize, criteria for eligibility to the prize, and assessment or refereeing process papers undergo.

The author reflects on the publication and development of the journal "Progress in Physical Geography" (PiPG) in Great Britain. He notes that the publication aimed to publish the original work and reviews setting directions for future research. He points out that PiPG hopes to publish diverse work and be read by diverse workers. He adds that its international authors knowledgeable in the physical geography of landforms, climates and ecologies will keep it as a source for foundation materials.

The article discusses the study concerning the morphology of the English Channel floor which can help identify the formation of Great Britain's island. Researchers found that the Channel is divided by valleys which was formed through the occurrence of two catastrophic floods. It states that the flood happened brought by the rise of water in glacial lakes in the area of the Southern North Sea. It was inferred that the paleographical changes will contribute in defining the country's paleography.

The article reports on the evidence of water gush on Mars. This paper provides information on the recent volcanic activity that are recorded by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The orbiter recently launched to observe and have photographs of high-resolution quality around Mars. Niels Hovius at the University of Cambridge in Great Britain suggested that signs of volcanic and flowing meltwater might be the logical evidence that the planet is relatively active in recent times. More observations on the geomorphic evidence are discussed briefly.