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Sandur (Credit: Miloš Rusnák, distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

GM Geomorphology Division on Geomorphology

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European Geosciences Union

Division on Geomorphology
gm.egu.eu

Division on Geomorphology

President: Kristen Cook (Emailgm@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Matteo Spagnolo (Email)
ECS Representative: Rachel Oien (Emailecs-gm@egu.eu)

Geomorphology is the scientific study of land-surface features and the dynamic processes that shape them. Besides focusing on the diverse physical landscapes of the Earth, geomorphologists also study surfaces of other planets. Understanding landform history and dynamics, and predicting future changes through a combination of field observations, physical experiments, and numerical modelling is at the heart of geomorphology. The division brings together research on processes that build topography trough e.g. the effects of tectonic forces as well as processes that modify the terrain such as weathering, erosion through running water, waves, glacial ice, wind and gravitational forces. Division members also study the impact of humans on geomorphological processes and investigate how geomorphological knowledge can be applied to solve problems of relevance to societies.

Latest posts from the GM blog

Highlighting: The Blatten landslide in Switzerland

In the morning of May 28, 2025, the picturesque Swiss alpine village of Blatten sat quiet and serene in the Lötschen Valley. Exceptionally quiet, in fact, as the village was evacuated on May 19th after a local Natural Hazards expert spotted a worrisome change in a local mountain looming about the village, the Kleines Nesthorn: it was collapsing faster. The Kleines Nesthorn is a 3,341-meter peak with a known instability between rock layers that has caused the mountain to shift …


20 Years of GM [Part 2]: A conversation on change and progress with Geomorphology’s first and current presidents

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the EGU Geomorphology Division (GM). Many of us have found community, experienced our first conference presentation, and furthered our careers through GM. GM has grown to be mid-sized for EGU standards with ~700 abstracts submitted in 2024 – but we had to start somewhere. I spoke with GM’s creator and first president, Colin Stark (National Taiwan University), and GM’s current president, Kristen Cook (IRD, ISTerre, University Grenoble Alpes), to learn more about GM’s …


20 Years of GM [Part 1]: Looking Back with Geomorphology Division Presidents!

This year the EGU Geomorphology (GM) division celebrates its 20th year (and it’s been a little over 10 years since our first GM blog post too!), so keep an eye out for exciting celebrations during the General Assembly in April. Ahead of this momentous celebration, we found time to sit down with four of the GM’s past presidents to discuss how EGU, the GM Division and the geomorphology community has progressed in those two decades. Read and watch below for …


The community development of TopoToolbox starts now

Please contact one of the GM blog editors, Emily (eb2043@cam.ac.uk) or Emma (elodes@asu.edu), if you’d like to contribute on the blog! by Wolfgang Schwanghart, Researcher, University of Potsdam, Germany Email: schwangh@uni-potsdam.de We all use computer programs, many of us code, and some of us even develop software so that it can be used by others. If mainly used by scientists and for research, this software is termed research software. Much of our daily research work highly depends on this kind …

Recent awardees

Christopher D. Clark

Christopher D. Clark

  • 2025
  • Ralph Alger Bagnold Medal

The 2025 Ralph Alger Bagnold Medal is awarded to Christopher D. Clark for fundamentally advancing the understanding of glacial landscapes, landforms, and geomorphological processes.


Jana Eichel

Jana Eichel

  • 2025
  • Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award

The 2025 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to Jana Eichel for outstanding and innovative work on the feedbacks between plants and geomorphic processes in high mountains.


Christian France-Lanord

Christian France-Lanord

  • 2024
  • Ralph Alger Bagnold Medal

The 2024 Ralph Alger Bagnold Medal is awarded to Christian France-Lanord for impactful work on the understanding of the influence of orogenesis and tectonics on geochemical cycles, and of the coupling between erosion and weathering processes.


Fiona J. Clubb

Fiona J. Clubb

  • 2024
  • Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award

The 2024 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to Fiona J. Clubb for contributions to the understanding of channel head formation and landscape evolution modelling, and the development of open-source code for the analysis of topographic data.


Ana Nap

Ana Nap

  • 2024
  • Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award

The 2024 Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award is awarded to Ana Nap Intermediate-depth & Basal icequakes at Greenland's fastest outlet glacier


Magdalena Lauermann

Magdalena Lauermann

  • 2024
  • Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award

The 2024 Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award is awarded to Magdalena Lauermann Channel-floodplain connectivity drives vegetation dynamics in semiarid floodplains: a remote sensing analysis of the Naryn river corridor in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia


Márton Pál

Márton Pál

  • 2024
  • Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award

The 2024 Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award is awarded to Márton Pál Citizen science in geoheritage: who participates in community geosite assessments?

Current issue of the EGU newsletter

Following the General Assembly at the end of April we have combined the April and May issues to bring you all the current EGU news and events from new funding calls for Public Engagement Grants, Distinguished Lectures and Science Journalism Fellowship, to the imminent close of the nominations for 2026's Awards and Medals on the 15 June!

Learn about EGU's new science for policy Climate Hazard and Risk Task Force, prepare for your media close-up with our science-media toolkit, join a webinar celebrating 20 years of EGU journal 'Climate of the Past' on tipping points, and much more in this month's Loupe!

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