Teaching Applied Geomorphology with an Exercise In Urban Storm-Water Management and Erosion Control

Abstract

An effective way of teaching undergraduate process geomorphology is to show how geomorphic principles and techniques can be applied in environmental management. In the rapidly growing field of storm-water management and erosion control, applied projects typically deal with limiting the impacts of land development on sensitive ecological systems, and this is achieved in large part by controlling runoff and minimizing soil erosion during construction. In representative class exercises, students with a range of backgrounds can apply their geomorphic knowledge to determining the impact of land development on flood magnitudes and erosion rates, and they can work with standard techniques to design flood and erosion-control features for a development project. These types of exercises can be tailored to any local area and can be enhanced with a field trip to an active construction site to view storm-water management and erosion-control techniques. Given the recent expansion of the Environmental Protection Agency'...