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Geomorphology and General Systems Theory
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 500-B

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Geomorphology and General Systems Theory
By RICHARD J. CHORLEY

THEORETICAL PAPERS IN THE HYDROLOGIC AND GEOMORPHIC SCIENCES

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

PROFESSIONAL PAPER

500-B

UNITED

STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1962

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Thomas B. Nolan, Director

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D.C.

CONTENTS
Abstract_ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Geomorphology and general systems theory__--_-__-__..-_.______________________________________________________ Acknowledgments__ _-_--------_--__-__--__-_---_.._______--_________________________-________-_________-_-Eef erences._--_-__-____-----------_--_-------_-_-_.._--____-_____-_________-_--______---____-_____-__-_-__ -in

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THEORETICAL PAPERS IN THE HYDROLOGIC AND GEOMORPHIC SCIENCES GEOMORPHOLOGY AND GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY By EICHARD J. CHORLET
"[Nature] * * * creates ever new forms; what exists has nover existed before, what has existed returns not again everything Is new and yet always old * * *. There is an eternal life, a coming into being and a movement in her; and yet she goesi not forward." (Goethe: Essay on Nature).1
ABSTRACT

Finally, seven advantages are suggested as accruing from attempts to treat landforms within an open system framework: 1. The focusing of attention on the possible relationships between form and process. 2. The recognition of the multivariate character of most geomorphic phenomena. 3. The acceptance of a more liberal view of changes of form through time than was fostered by Davisian thinking. 4. The liberalizing of attitudes toward the aims and methods of geomorphology. 5. The directing of

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