| 1. Domain | 1.1 Scope of the Domain | Boundaries | The range of phenomena the science includes and excludes. | Studies the formation, evolution, and dynamics of Earth’s surface landforms and the processes that shape them (erosion, transport, deposition, weathering); includes rivers, coasts, glaciers, hillslopes, aeolian systems. Excludes deep-crustal tectonics unless expressed at the surface, and excludes pure sedimentology unless linked to landscape processes. |
| | Scale | The spatial, temporal, or organizational level at which the science operates (e.g., quantum, cellular, social, cosmic). | Operates from grain-scale entrainment → channel/basin morphology → landscape evolution → planetary-scale surface processes; spans milliseconds (turbulent bursts) to millions of years (uplift/denudation cycles) and centimeters to continents. |
| 1.2 Ontological Commitments | Entities | The kinds of things assumed to exist within the domain (particles, organisms, agents, fields, etc.). | Landforms, channels, hillslopes, dunes, beaches, deltas, glaciers, soils, sediments, regolith, rivers, ice masses, vegetation, weathering profiles, drainage networks, tectonic blocks, climate forcing systems. |
| | Properties | The fundamental attributes these entities possess (mass, charge, genotype, preference, etc.). | Slope, curvature, roughness, shear stress, sediment flux, erodibility, cohesion, porosity, permeability, discharge, uplift rate, precipitation rate, grain size, channel width/depth, flow velocity, ice thickness, soil strength. |
| | Categories | The basic ontological types used to classify domain elements (substances, processes, relations, structures). | Landform types (fluvial, coastal, aeolian, glacial, periglacial, karst, hillslope), process domains (erosional, depositional, transport-limited, supply-limited), climate regimes, relief classes, tectonic settings, drainage patterns. |
| 1.3 State-Variables | Variables | The measurable or definable properties that describe system conditions. | Slope angle, flow discharge, sediment supply rate, uplift rate, precipitation rate, grain-size distribution, shear stress, ice velocity, soil moisture, temperature, chemical weathering rate, channel geometry. |
| | Parameterization | How variables encode and represent the system’s state. | States encoded via DEMs, slope–area relationships, hydrographs, sediment-rating curves, climate forcings, uplift/subsidence rates, grain-size spectra, erosion laws, curvature metrics, stream-power parameters. |
| 1.4 Admissible Idealizations | Simplifications | Conceptual reductions used to make the domain tractable (point masses, rational agents, perfect gases). | Steady-state conditions, uniform rainfall, constant sediment supply, homogeneous lithology, linear diffusion on slopes, simple shear-stress laws, no vegetation, no bioturbation, ignoring rare extreme events. |
| | Validity Conditions | The limits and contexts in which idealizations hold or break down. | Valid for long-term average behavior or simple domains; breaks down during extreme floods/storms, rapid tectonics, strong vegetation effects, heterogeneous lithology, spatially variable climate, and highly transient processes. |
| 1.5 Domain Assumptions | Structural Assumptions | Background ontological stances such as determinism, continuity, randomness, discreteness. | Surface processes follow physical laws; landforms evolve due to interaction of erosion, transport, and deposition; topography reflects balance of uplift and denudation; climate and tectonics control geomorphic regimes. |
| | Implicit Commitments | Unstated but necessary assumptions that shape the field’s conceptual structure. | Assumes measurable and predictable relationships between slope, discharge, sediment supply, weathering, uplift, and landform evolution; assumes preservation of geomorphic signals; assumes scaling from process to landscape scale is meaningful. |
| 1.6 Internal Coherence Requirements | Consistency | The demand that domain concepts do not contradict one another. | Requires agreement among topographic patterns, process rates, observed landforms, erosion laws, climate forcing, tectonic rates, and landscape evolution models. |
| | Compatibility | The requirement that entities, variables, and assumptions fit together into a unified descriptive framework. | Demands alignment with sedimentology, stratigraphy, hydrology, climatology, tectonics, soil science, glaciology, and planetary geology within a unified surface-process framework. |
| 2. Evidence Layer | 2.1 Observable Phenomena | Observables | The aspects of the domain that can produce detectable signals accessible to measurement. | Slope angles, channel geometry, sediment transport rates, bedform migration, shoreline change, dune movement, glacier motion, landslides, river avulsion, erosion/deposition patterns, drainage-network evolution, terrace formation, rockfall/failure events. |
| | Detection Limits | The boundaries of what can be resolved or sensed by current instruments or methods. | Limited by DEM resolution, sensor accuracy, vegetation cover, cloud cover (remote sensing), coarse time sampling, inaccessible terrain, noise in flow/sediment sensors, low-magnitude landscape change below instrument resolution, and depth penetration limits of geophysical tools. |
| 2.2 Measurement Systems | Units | Standardized quantifications (meters, seconds, volts, decibels, dollars, etc.) necessary for consistent comparison. | Elevation (m), slope (°), curvature, discharge (m³/s), sediment flux (kg/s or t/yr), erosion rate (mm/yr), uplift rate (mm/yr), velocity (m/s), grain size (µm–mm), roughness indices, thickness (m), time (s–Ma). |
| | Instruments | Devices and tools (microscopes, spectrometers, sensors, surveys, detectors) used to produce measurements. | LiDAR, drones, GPS, GNSS receivers, total stations, stream gauges, ADCPs, turbidity/sediment sensors, time-lapse cameras, aerial/satellite imagery, InSAR, seismometers, tiltmeters, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), DEM-generation systems, laser scanners. |
| 2.3 Operational Definitions | Definitions | Terms defined by specific measurement procedures, ensuring empirical clarity. | Erosion defined as net removal of material; deposition as net accumulation; bedload/suspended load defined by transport mode; slope failure defined by threshold exceedance; drainage basin defined by watershed boundaries; shoreline position defined by a fixed datum contour. |
| | Procedures | The explicit steps required to perform a measurement in a reproducible way. | DEM creation/cleaning, repeated topographic surveys, channel cross-section measurement, sediment sampling, drone flight protocols, discharge measurement routines, image classification, GPR transects, InSAR time-series processing. |
| 2.4 Data Acquisition | Protocols | Formal processes for gathering data under controlled or standardized conditions. | Repeat surveys for change detection, fixed-station discharge and sediment monitoring, multi-temporal satellite/drone imaging, automated sensor logging, cross-section resampling, tracking glacier/landform displacement via InSAR or GPS timeseries. |
| | Sampling | Rules determining which subset of the domain is measured and how representative it is. | Multi-point slope sampling, cross-sectional transects, watershed-scale sampling, grain-size replicates, distributed sensor networks, temporal sampling across hydrologic events, spatial grids, stratified sampling across geomorphic units. |
| 2.5 Data Character & Format | Data Types | The form raw evidence takes (time series, spectra, images, counts, qualitative records). | DEMs, orthophotos, time-series discharge/sediment data, velocity profiles, InSAR displacement maps, aerial mosaics, cross-section tables, grain-size distributions, hydrologic curves, slope–area plots, terrain metrics, hazard inventories. |
| | Resolution | The granularity or precision with which data is captured. | Controlled by DEM pixel size, drone imagery resolution, GPS accuracy, satellite revisit rate, sensor sampling frequency, noise floors, spatial density of observations, GPR penetration depth, and filtering/aggregation methods. |
| 2.6 Reliability & Calibration | Calibration | Adjustment procedures ensuring instruments produce accurate results. | GPS calibration, LiDAR/laser scanner calibration, sediment sensor calibration, ADCP velocity calibration, drone camera/geometric calibration, satellite radiometric/geometric correction, InSAR atmospheric correction, GPR antenna calibration. |
| | Error Characterization | Identification and quantification of noise, uncertainty, bias, and measurement error. | Topographic noise, GPS multipath error, DEM interpolation artifacts, vegetation interference, turbidity/transport sensor drift, image misalignment, motion blur, hydrologic-event aliasing, atmospheric noise in InSAR, operator bias in mapping. |
| 3. Structural Layer | 3.1 Patterns & Regularities | Laws / Relations | Stable, repeatable patterns governing how observables behave across conditions. | Stream power controls river incision; slope–area scaling follows predictable relationships; threshold slopes form where erosion ≈ uplift; dunes evolve from flow–sediment feedbacks; braided vs meandering channels follow hydraulic and sediment-supply controls; glacial erosion rates link to ice thickness and sliding speed. |
| | Invariants | Quantities or properties that remain constant under transformations (symmetries, conservation laws). | Characteristic drainage patterns, stable scaling laws (e.g., Hack’s Law), consistent sequence of landform development in similar climates, invariant relationships between slope, discharge, and sediment load within process domains. |
| 3.2 Causal Architecture | Mechanisms | Underlying processes or structures that produce the observed regularities. | Erosion by flowing water/ice/wind, sediment transport (bedload/suspended load), weathering (chemical/physical), mass wasting, soil creep, freeze–thaw, biotic disturbance, wave and tidal processes, tectonic uplift, isostatic response. |
| | Pathways | Organized sequences of interactions forming a causal chain or network. | Weathering → erosion → transport → deposition; uplift → relief creation → incision; dune nucleation → migration → stabilization; delta building → avulsion → progradation; glacier accumulation → flow → erosion → deposition → retreat. |
| 3.3 Theoretical Vocabulary | Concepts | Core terms that encode the domain’s structure (force, gene, equilibrium, field). | Stream power, threshold slope, transport-limited vs supply-limited systems, base level, equilibrium profile, shear stress, effective discharge, critical shear stress, sinuosity, roughness, resilience, accommodation, geomorphic response time. |
| | Classifications | Taxonomies, categories, or typologies that organize entities and relations. | Landform types (fluvial, coastal, aeolian, glacial, periglacial, karst, hillslope), drainage patterns, channel planforms (meandering, braided, straight, anabranching), slope processes, climate-controlled geomorphic domains, geomorphic transport laws. |
| 3.4 Formal Representations | Equations | Mathematical constructs expressing laws, relations, or mechanisms. | Stream-power incision law, Shields criterion, Manning’s equation, Darcy–Weisbach equation, sediment-transport equations, diffusion equation for hillslope evolution, glacier flow equations, wave-energy equations, isostasy equations (Airy/Flexural). |
| | Models | Structured representations—mathematical, computational, or conceptual—used to predict and explain phenomena. | Landscape evolution models (e.g., CHILD, CAESAR-Lisflood, Landlab), fluvial and coastal morphodynamic models, dune and bedform models, glacier/ice-sheet models, mass-wasting models, hydrologic–geomorphic coupled models. |
| 3.5 Idealized Structures | Simplified Models | Purposeful abstractions that capture essential dynamics while omitting irrelevant detail. | Uniform lithology, steady climate, constant uplift, steady discharge, fixed sediment supply, no vegetation, smooth slopes, simplified rheology, linear diffusion on hillslopes, simplified boundary conditions. |
| | Limit Conditions | Regimes where specific models or approximations hold (classical vs. quantum, linear vs. nonlinear). | Fail during extreme floods/storms, rapid tectonic change, strong vegetation influence, heterogeneous lithology, highly transient climates, complex feedbacks (e.g., landslide–river coupling), braided channels, permafrost dynamics. |
| 3.6 Integrative Frameworks | Unifying Theories | Higher-order structures that connect disparate laws or mechanisms under a coherent whole. | Integrates fluid dynamics, sediment transport, climate forcing, tectonics, and biological feedbacks into a unified surface-process framework linking driving forces → geomorphic processes → landforms → long-term landscape evolution. |
| | Interdisciplinary Links | Points where the theory connects to adjacent sciences or larger explanatory systems. | Intersects with hydrology, climatology, sedimentology, glaciology, ecology, tectonics, planetary science, hazard assessment, and environmental engineering. |
| 4. Method Layer | 4.1 Inquiry Design | Experimental Design | Structured plans for manipulating variables to test causal claims. | Controlling flow discharge, sediment supply, slope angle, rainfall intensity, vegetation cover, substrate type, temperature, and boundary conditions in flume/tank experiments to test erosion, transport, deposition, and landform evolution hypotheses. |
| | Observational Design | Systematic approaches for gathering non-manipulated data (surveys, field studies, natural experiments). | Monitoring natural landscape change via repeat surveys, time-lapse imagery, remote sensing, GPS, InSAR, hydrologic monitoring, and long-term watershed observation without artificial manipulation. |
| 4.2 Testing & Validation | Hypothesis Testing | Procedures for evaluating whether evidence supports or contradicts specific claims. | Comparing predicted erosion rates, channel geometries, bedform evolution, sediment-flux relationships, slope responses, drainage reorganization, and shoreline or glacier change with field data, lab experiments, and numerical model output. |
| | Replication | The requirement that results be independently reproducible under similar conditions. | Repeating slope profiles, cross-sections, grain-size analyses, discharge and sediment sampling, drone flights, DEM generation, image classifications, and flume experimental runs under identical or varied conditions. |
| 4.3 Inference & Evaluation | Statistical Inference | Rules for drawing conclusions from noisy or incomplete data. | Calculating erosion and deposition rates, slope–area relationships, sediment rating curves, uncertainty bounds for DEMs of Difference (DoDs), hydrologic–geomorphic correlations, and probabilistic hazard metrics for mass wasting or flooding. |
| | Model Comparison | Criteria (fit, simplicity, predictive accuracy, robustness) used to evaluate competing models. | Evaluating competing landscape evolution models, fluvial transport equations, slope-stability models, glacial or coastal morphodynamic models, and climate–landscape coupling models based on predictive accuracy, robustness, and parsimony. |
| 4.4 Error Management | Error Analysis | Identification and quantification of random and systematic errors. | Identifying GPS drift, DEM noise, vegetation interference, cloud-cover artifacts, turbidity-sensor drift, flow-measurement errors, misclassification in remote sensing, operator bias in mapping, and topographic misalignment between surveys. |
| | Bias Control | Methods for minimizing subjective, instrumental, or procedural biases. | Randomizing survey locations, blinding image interpreters when possible, using standardized logging protocols, calibrating sensors, validating remote-sensing classifications, cross-checking field measurements, and ensuring representative spatial/temporal sampling. |
| 4.5 Adjudication & Revision | Peer Scrutiny | Collective evaluation of claims through critique, review, and debate. | Independent review of mapping, DEM differencing, channel/fan interpretation, hazard assessments, model assumptions, hydrologic–geomorphic coupling claims, and landform evolution reconstructions. |
| | Theory Revision | Procedures for modifying, replacing, or discarding models based on new evidence. | Updating geomorphic transport laws, revising slope-stability thresholds, correcting drainage-network interpretations, modifying climate–tectonic–erosion coupling frameworks, and incorporating contradictory field or remote-sensing evidence. |
| 4.6 Integrity Conditions | Transparency | Requirements to disclose methods, data, assumptions, and limitations. | Full reporting of survey methods, drone flight plans, sensor calibration, DEM-processing steps, filter parameters, classification criteria, model assumptions, uncertainty estimates, and reasons for excluding data. |
| | Ethical Standards | Norms ensuring responsible conduct in experimentation, data handling, and publication. | Ethical fieldwork (landowner permissions, minimizing environmental disturbance), honest reporting of uncertain interpretations, disclosure of methodological limits, responsible data handling, and avoidance of misleading visualization. |