Landscape Degradation

Course manual 2025/2026

Course content

This course should be called Landscape Dynamics, however, due to administrative reasons the name could not be changed, yet.

Landscapes are the stage on which all life—including human society—unfolds. Landscapes control the routing of water, sediment, nutrients, and organic matter, while both shaping and being shaped by tectonic forces and climate. Understanding landscapes is therefore key to deciphering the interactions between Earth’s natural systems and human activity.

In this course, we explore how natural landscapes function through erosion, sediment transport, and deposition. We then examine how human land use has disrupted these processes, leading to widespread land degradation—one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. Key concepts include rivers as pacemakers of erosion, soil erosion mechanisms, river sediment transport, and strategies for achieving sustainable soil use.

You’ll engage with these topics through lectures, discussions, and hands-on exercises. Using interactive Matlab scripts (no prior coding experience required), you’ll develop practical skills in landscape analysis, computational thinking, and scientific visualization—all highly valued in today’s job market.

As a culminating project, you’ll choose a landscape anywhere in the world to analyse. You’ll assess how climate, tectonics, and geology have shaped it over time, and how human activity has altered its dynamics and sustainability.

Study materials

Literature

• J. Huggett: Fundamentals of Geormorphology (3rd edition or younger)

• Bierman & Montgomery 2020  Key Concetps in Geomorphology

• literature on Canvas site

Syllabus

• see Canvas for detailed Syllabus

Software

• Matlab, Python

Objectives

• Explain how tectonics, bedrock geology, climate, and land use interact to influence erosion and shape topography
• Interpret topographic data to reconstruct long-term landscape evolution processes
• Evaluate the role of climate, tectonics, and geology in shaping a specific landscape through space and time
• Assess the consequences of land degradation driven by climate change and land use, and propose sustainable, practical solutions
• Calculate soil erosion rates across natural and human-impacted environments using quantitative methods
• Illustrate sediment transport pathways from source to sink, and discuss the implications for landscape dynamics and modern society
• Create an ArcGIS story map that effectively visualizes and communicates the results from the analysis of your study area

Teaching methods

• Lecture
• Computer lab session/practical training
• Self-study
• Working independently on e.g. a project or thesis

Discussion lectures:

In the discussion lectures, students will present on topics and key papers, and we will discuss as a group. 

Computer lab sessions:

in the computer practicals, we will mostly work on interactive Matlab/Python script to analyse landscapes. You will learn how to investigate the effects of tectonics and geology on landscapes and how this controls erosion processes, as well as calculating changes in erosion due to human activity. 

Project:

Each student selects a special region and does a topographic analysis to study natural and anthropogenic erosion processes within that region. The results should be visualized in a ArcGIS story map and a short presentation.

Seminar

During the final seminar, all students will give a short pitch (5 minutes) on the findings of their project.

Learning activities

Attendance

Additional requirements for this course:

Attendance during is mandatory during lectures and practicals. This course relies on discussions and interactive coding together with peers and lecturers. Thus, your attendance is required. Students may be absent in 2 out of 10 sessions. Sign in for every session ends 15min after the session begins. 

Assessment

Each of the parts will be assessed separately.  The final mark should be at least a 5.5 average to pass. There are no re-takes for the discussion grade and the two presentations. If deadlines for assignments are not met then the mark will be 1.0 for that assignment. The Story Map should at least score a 6.0,  and a revision can be re-submitted in case of a mark <6.0.

Inspection of assessed work

Contact the course coordinator to make an appointment for inspection.

Assignments

Report:

• An ArcGIS story map showcasing the topographic and erosion analysis of a specific region. Review at least 5 papers from the region to put your work into a regional context. This is an individual assignment and graded.

Pitch on report

• Give a 5 minute pitch on the main outcomes of your literature review and topographic analysis (individual, graded)

Lecture

• Present one of the topics central to the course in the format of a lecture of 20 minutes (groups of 2, graded). Exact group size might vary based on course student numbers.

Discussion lectures

• participation in discussions (individual, graded)

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Additional information

Knowledge of geomorphological processes at BSc level is required for enrollment.

The course has a minimum enrollment of 8 participants, the maximum is set at 25 students.

Contact information

Coordinator

• dr. R.F. Ott