Module Catalogue 2026/27

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

Rationale: Mountain regions cover approximately one quarter of the Earth’s land surface but play a fundamental global-scale role in terms of their biodiversity, the global water cycle, and the ecosystem services they provide to human populations. These mountain regions are extremely sensitive to wider climatic changes, acting as important sentinels in which the complex and dynamic environmental changes associated with a warming climate can be observed and explored.

Mountainous relief is generated by the interaction of tectonics and climate, with the balance responsible for the net change of a landscape’s relief and elevation - often brought together in what we term 'tectonic geomorphology'. On a human timescale the processes that remove materials from the mountains and transport it (eventually) to the oceans also result in a number of geohazards that lead to risk to human populations. The resultant disasters threaten millions, and kill many thousands annually, whilst causing billions of pounds of damage to infrastructure. These impacts are suffered unequally across mountain populations around the world and our approaches to disaster risk reduction have to use knowledge and skills from across the traditional physical:human geography divide.

The magnitude-frequency of mountain processes and hazards might be changing as climate warms, and, at the same time we are putting more people and infrastructure in harm’s way, which results in a complex patterns of and concepts risk across mountain regions. We draw upon landslides in some of these examples as they 'bookend' many mountain processes and are perhaps one of most 'solvable' geohazards.
This module will cover a range of mountain-related themes, allowing you to use conceptual, fieldwork, numerical and simple modelling approaches to think about how to analyse, quantify and interpret mountain processes and change. We will draw upon a wide range of interdisciplinary issues and concepts relating to climatic and environmental change, geomorphic processes, anthropogenic land use practices and national/international policies (e.g., SDGs) to fully explore the key drivers and timescales of change within mountain environments.

The range of mountain-related themes studied in each year will vary in response to global events, but are likely to be drawn from:
•       Climate & environmental change in the mountains;
•       Mountain waters in a changing climate
•       Tectonic geomorphology;
•       Processes of hillslope failure (and prediction)
•       Mountain hazards and hazard cascades, including outburst floods and sediment slugs; earthquake and rainfall triggered landslides; landslide tsunami; earthquakes; supraglacial landslides,
•       Mountain populations and population change
•       Livelihoods, land use and resources in the mountains

Outline Of Syllabus

The Syllabus will cover some of:

•       Tectonic Geomorphology - landscapes leading to risk
•       Magnitude-frequency of hazards and changes in exposure/vulnerability
•       Failure modelling – how safe are slopes?
•       Mitigation: techniques, challenges and societal risk
•       Geohazards and climate change
•       Outburst floods and sediment slugs
•       Hazard and risk cascades / multihazards
•       Monitoring and instrumentation
•       Climate and environmental change in the mountains
•       Mountain water resources and hydrology
•       Mountain livelihoods and land use practices
•       Future exposure to mountain hazards

Practicals. In each year we will deliver practicals from a selection of the following themes:

•       Climate change driven changes in temperature and snow distribution
•       Future mountain population change and dynamic exposure to landslides
•       Microscale modelling of hillslopes (desktop valley evolution through landslides)
•       Differencing 3D models to detect geomorphic change
•       Runout modelling of geohazards and impact on populations/infrastructure
•       Landslide stability modelling / rockfall runout and mitigation
•       Earthquakes shaking and vulnerability/exposure
•       Post-earthquake landslides in space and time
•       Monitoring data processing
•       Susceptibility mapping
•       Supraglacial debris and landslide detection / tsunami generation


Fieldwork:
x1 day trip to ONE of the following locations: Yorkshire Coast, Lake District, Northumberland, Howgill Fells, S Scotland. Trip location is dependent upon recent landslide processes and engineering activity in the teaching year.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

Knowledge of the importance of mountain regions and mountain geomorphology as a discrete sub-discipline in Geography and how it relates to the wider subject areas of engineering, geosciences, risk, vulnerability, development, and tectonic geomorphology.

Describe, illustrate and explain with reference to specific examples the main characteristics of mountain environments and the ways in which mountain processes interact with landscapes and people.

Describe and evaluate a range of techniques for the collection, analysis and representation of mountain processes and an ability to quantify their cumulative impacts


Summarise and evaluate a selection of key concepts, debates and research publications related to mountain environments and processes, and the implications for short-term and long-term landscape change.

An understanding of the use of physical, conceptual and numerical models in furthering our knowledge.

Intended Skill Outcomes

Reading – independent research
Field measurement and data collection strategies and their application
Design of research experiments to assess complex real-world risk scenario
Analysis of primary and secondary data sets derived from physical and/or numerical modelling
Written report presentation skills
Teamwork during field, lab or PC based data collection and analyses
Oral presentation skills

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures will introduce key concepts across a range of spatial and temporal time-scales, and will utilise research and professional practice case-study examples.

Fieldwork will enable students to be trained in the use of cutting-edge data collection techniques and interpreting these data, and their practical application in mitigating risk.

Practical classes will allow students to process data collected from fieldwork, analyse secondary data and recommend solutions – all based on real-world situations. The sessions allow students to learn experientially the key skills applicable for further research or employment in linked industries. Each practical is a mix of taught content and independent working with help and supervision.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The report assesses the ability of students to design an appropriate study, collect, analyze and present a range of primary and secondary data, and set this within the theoretical and practice context. The practical work builds upon fieldwork experience, so fieldwork is not independently assessed.

The oral presentation allows a group of students to work together to produce a critical evaluation of a theme in mountain sciences, chosen with staff guidance. It develops oral and presentation skills and allows engagement with a wide and leading-edge selection of literature and other non academic evidence.

General Notes

N/A