Creator of the IGD logo: Silas Samuel dos Santos Costa (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil)

The IAG is proud to announce the official establishment of the International Geodiversity Day (IGD), by the 41st session of the UNESCO General Conference! From now on, each October 6th will be a day of worldwide celebration, aiming to raise awareness of public and policy on the importance of non-living nature: rocks, sediments, landforms, topography, hydrological processes… and much more!

Visit the IGD website here: http://geodiversityday.org, or follow its Twitter and Facebook accounts here: https://twitter.com/GeodiversityDay / https://www.facebook.com/GeodiversityDay.

In this photograph, Professor Leszek Starkel explains how braided channel systems evolve in the front of the Himalaya,
during a field trip of the Association of Polish Geomorphologists in November 2006 (photo: Piotr Migoń).

Professor Leszek Starkel passed away on 6 November 2021, after a long illness, which must have been particularly painful to a person so dedicated to science and keen to be involved in science-related activities as long as possible.

Leszek Starkel was an eminent geomorphologist and Quaternary scientist, a leading figure in Polish geomorphology over many decades, but also a person of wide international reputation. Among the many honours he was awarded, was the honorary fellowship of the International Association of Geomorphologists was granted to him during the International Conference on Geomorphology in Zaragoza in 2005. His other distinctions included the honorary fellowship of INQUA and the Gold Founder Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. He was also a member of the Polish Academy of Science and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as the honorary fellow of the Association of Polish Geomorphologists. His entire professional career was connected with the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

His contribution to geomorphology is multifaceted, as he was a man with a broad range of interests, of extremely wide knowledge, vision, and an extraordinary ability to see causal relationships in nature and between nature and humans. He was also a very well-travelled person, easily handling observational evidence from various geographic contexts and geomorphic environments. Nevertheless, two geographical study areas stand out in his research career. One was the Polish Carpathians and their foreland, including the Vistula river. Although they lack the grandeur of high mountains and may seem dull, they may be also regarded as representative for medium-altitude mountains – located in the temperate environment and built of erodible flysch successions – they are subject to a variety of geomorphic processes, from weathering through hillslope to fluvial. A combination of pre-Quaternary inheritance, a record of Quaternary climate change, and a recent history of human impact, has made the Carpathians a reference area for many studies carried out elsewhere, in which the synthetic approach perfected by Leszek Starkel was used as a template. A second remarkable study area of Leszek Starkel was the Darjeeling Himalayas and the Meghalaya Plateau in India, to which he was a regular visitor since 1968. His early work on geomorphic effects of catastrophic rainfall in the Darjeeling area has become a key study, particularly for several generations of Indian geomorphologists, and the issue of hillslope-channel coupling during extreme events was among the most often addressed in his subsequent publications. He was always very fond of India and the present author had the privilege of attending a field trip to north-east India in 2006, during which we were expertly guided (but also amused!) by Leszek Starkel from one landslide to another and one braided river to another, discussing the geomorphic complexity of mountains and forelands shaped by active tectonics, weather extremes and human interventions.

Although we all realized that his departure was inevitable, we will miss Leszek Starkel very much – his insightful comments, far-reaching visions, and sense of humour. But his contribution to geomorphology will stay with us and there is much to learn from his approach, particularly for the younger generation of geomorphologists.

Written by Piotr Migoń.

The Japanese Geomorphological Union published a Special Issue as its 41st volume in August 2020 (find it here). It consists in seven papers that were presented during a workshop the IAG endorsed: the 16th International Workshop on Present Earth Surface Processes and Long-term, Environmental Changes in East Eurasia. It took place in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) on September 16-20, 2019, and was organised by Mongolian, Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Russian and Korean Institutes. The Special Issue also provides an overview of the field excursion that held during the workshop in the Khangai Region.

The IAG is glad to announce that its Greek National Scientific Member, the Hellenic Committee for Geomorphology & Environment, published a Special Publication in the 8th Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece. This issue is the Proceedings of an online conference, “The role of geomorphology in modern society”, that was held on December 16th 2020 under the auspices of the IAG. You can access this e-book for free here: https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/geosociety/issue/viewIssue/1627/469.

We reproduce here the tribute distributed by the ANZGG to Prof Garry Willgoose, University of Newcastle, Australia, who passed away early in 2021. The IAG were saddened to hear of his passing.

“Professor Garry Willgoose passed away on 26 February 2021, after a 22-month battle with brain cancer. Though many colleagues know about the sad news, we have become aware that others do not.

Garry was undoubtedly a world leader in fluvial geomorphology and modelling landscape evolution. His work has been global in its impact, ranging from Hydrology to Earth and Planetary Surface Processes, and the connections between both. In 2018 Professor Willgoose published Principles of Soilscape and Landscape Evolution (Cambridge University Press). Many of his peers believe this book will become a classic, and a must-read for new generations of landscape modellers.

Garry was a gifted communicator. This along with his passion for the environment made him an inspiring lecturer and sought-after commentator on the local media. He had the rare distinction of pioneering a new field and bringing fundamental change to industry practice. His influence went well beyond the research community. He placed a high value on translating his research into forms that had practical value in environmental management. His SIBERA landscape evolution model saw its first industry application in designing a stable cap to contain tailings at Ranger Uranium mine in the Northern Territory, Australia in 1993. It has since evolved to become the mining industry standard for assessing rehabilitated landforms following cessation of open-cut mining. Due to his outstanding career, in December 2020, Garry became a fellow of the American Geophysical Union.

Garry was an inspirational teacher who was loved by students. He always took time to listen and to explain complex problems in language appropriate to the level of understanding of the listener. He was a great mentor to younger academics. His open mindedness, deep knowledge, and multi-disciplinary view were highly appreciated. He worked assiduously at developing cross-disciplinary groups, research initiatives, and teaching curriculum. He retired due to ill-health in October 2020.

Garry was a generous colleague and a valued friend to many. He will be missed.”

Written by Greg Hancock, Anthony Kiem, George Kuczera, Jose Rodriguez, Patricia Saco, Mark Stewart, Danielle Verdon-Kidd, Welivitiyage Don Welivitiya and In-Young Yeo, from the College of Engineering, Science and Environment, the University of Newcastle, Australia.

The IAG is pleased to announce that the volume “Geomorphology of Rome”, written by one of the chairs of the IAG Urban Geomorphology Working Group, as been published as an e-book by Sapienza University Press! Purchase it for 10€ on the Torrossa Online Digital Bookstore: https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/4880861.