Casey D. Allen

University of the West Indies | UWI · Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences

Focusing primarily on the actor – human or nonhuman, individual or group, conscious or unconscious – Actor-Network Theory (ANT) explores the interconnectedness of all things. ANT recognises that all objects and things exhibit consciousness, and through a consciousness, interact heterogeneously in space; the location of the interaction(s), where the...

a b s t r a c t While not well-known or well-studied, Grenada's (Caribbean) Carib Stones host over 100 individual petroglyphs (rock engravings) representing some of the Caribbean's best examples. Two sites were assessed for this study: Duquesne Bay along the northwest Caribbean coast and Mt. Rich in the northern tropical rainforest. Their importanc...

Cavernous rock decay processes represent a global phenomenon, ubiquitous to all environments, with the viewable-in-landscape form usually being the final descriptor (e.g. “alveoli”), sometimes alluding to the specific decay process (e.g. “pitting”), other times not (e.g. “honeycombing”). Yet, definitive terminology remains inconsistent, usually owi...

This book focuses on the highly touristed, but surprisingly under-researched Lesser Antilles region. After offering a brief overview of the region’s geologic and tectonic history, as well as its basic climatology, subsequent chapters then discuss each island’s (or island set’s) geomorphology and geology, and how the settlement history, tourism, and...

Human activities comprise a third agent of modern geomorphological processes. A human-made landform represents a unit characterized by human activities combined with natural geomorphologic agents, the study of which is referred to as anthropogeomorphology. Ras Ashairej in Kuwait Bay is undergoing many such changes due to the disposal of untreated s...

Abstract Choosing the optimal location for a city based on sound environmental geomorphology planning is of the utmost importance for achieving environmental sustainability, as it can spare the state and other decision-making entities a great deal of stress in the long run. GIS offers great potential for environmental planners to choose the most ap...

Dr. Anthony Orme was a well-rounded geomorphologist, but he may be most distinguished as a coastal field geomorphologist. This passion for the field tradition was passed onto many of his students who, in turn, have continued to pass along such traditions to their students. In the spirit of Tony Orme, we present this short examination of two types o...

Choosing the optimal location for a city based on sound environmental geomorphology planning is of the utmost importance to achieving environmental sustainability, as it can spare the State and other decision-making entities a great deal of stress in the long run. GIS offers great potential for environmental planners to choose the most appropriate...

The State of Kuwait seeks sustainable development through implementation of clear and specific urban plans, some of which suffer from a severe lack of geomorphological and spatially-based environmental planning, such as the use of geographic information systems (GIS). Choosing the optimal location for a city based on sound environmental planning is...

Failaka Island, located in the far east of Kuwait Bay about 20 km from the State of Kuwait’s coast, represents a focal point for regional geography and history, including natural wonders and archaeological sites dating to the Bronze, Iron, Hellenistic, Christian and Islamic periods. According to environmental data and in coordination with local aut...

Failaka Island, located in the far east of Kuwait Bay, is about 20 km from the State of Kuwait’s coast, and represents a focal point for regional geography and history, with pristine beaches and archaeological sites dating to the Bronze, Iron, Hellenistic, Christian and Islamic periods. According to environmental data and in coordination with local...

Located in northeastern Arizona (USA), Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO) presents a unique story of both geologic and human history. Though perhaps most well-known for its abundant petrified wood and being part of the Painted Desert, visitors are often surprised when they discover PEFO hosts many ancient petroglyph sites. Over the years, many a...

Urban Geomorphology: Landforms and Processes in Cities addresses the human impacts on landscapes through occupation (urbanization) and development as a contribution to anthropogenic geomorphology or "anthropogeomorphology." This includes a focus on land clearance, conservation issues, pollution, decay and erosion, urban climate, and anthropogenic c...

Comprising a small set of several islands located at the southern end of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, Guadeloupe is a French Overseas Department. The two larger islands are separated by less than 40 m in some sections giving Guadeloupe the geologic distinction of being part of both the Volcanic Caribbees (geologically younger) and th...

A case study of the geomorphology of the Lesser Antilles island arc reveals, in its entirety, the influence of numerous geological forces and events. Most notably, these include the products of plate tectonics, volcanism, and carbonate marine reef formation. North of Dominica the island arc splits into two separate chains. The easternmost archipela...

The Lesser Antilles comprises three main island groups: Leeward Islands, Windward Islands, and Leeward Antilles. Stretching from the Virgin Islands in the north to Trinidad and Tobago in the south and encompassing Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao to the east, the Lesser Antilles remain a geomorphologically and anthorpogenically diverse region. While thi...

Located east of the US Virgin Islands and 8 km north of Saint Martin, Anguilla is a low-lying Limestone Caribbee with no permanent standing water other than brackish salt ponds. With a volcanic historic long since passed, Anguilla has no mountainous features. Its limestone composition resulted in the formation of numerous caves, some of which are h...

Martinique is an island located at the northern end of the Windward Islands in the Lesser Antilles. One of the larger islands of the Lesser Antilles, Martinique, is unique because of its location near the convergence of two volcanic arcs on the eastern edge of the Caribbean Plate. The two volcanic arcs cross Martinique on close to parallel paths th...

Second only to the Himalayas in size, the Andes represent a fascinating region of our world. Written by regional experts and drawing on field-based endeavors of several researchers, each chapter encompasses a timely topic, from climate-related studies and historical occupations to indigenous manufacturing and recent archaeological evidence. If you...

Located on the southern end of the Lesser Antilles’ Windward Island chain, the tri-island nation of Grenada is comprised of primarily volcanic islands. Grenada proper retains a mountainous landscape with a variety of volcanic features and fertile soil that supports the island’s agricultural economy and helps to promote tourism. The nation’s other t...

In this introduction to the special issue on Photogeomorphology and Landscape Change, the guest editor and section editor team up to provide a background to the use of photography and imagery within geomorphology. The authors examine a range of approaches and applications within the geomorphology subfield (of photogeomorphology), where historical i...

Based on William Morris Davis’ great Transcontinental Excursion of 1912, this article assesses and reviews the Geography by Rail® program (GbR) – a unique, short-term, field-based study abroad experience that takes an uncommon-in-the-US approach to international exploration and fieldwork, incorporating on-the-ground, regional geography-based learni...

The Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) is a rapid, quantitative approach to rock art condition assessment. Research carried out at Petrified Forest National Park, USA, demonstrates that, following a 2-day training session, site evaluators obtained replicable results, facilitating a condition assessment of over 3500 engraved panels. Two electron micros...

Book review of Yi-Fu Tuan's latest (last?)

Geomorphological Fieldwork addresses a topic that always remains popular within the geosciences and environmental science. More specifically, the volume conveys a growing legacy of field-based learning for young geomorphologists that can be used as a student book for field-based university courses and postgraduate research requiring fieldwork or fi...

For centuries, fieldwork has been geomorphology’s heart, entwined with observation and imagination, bound to its place in space by practitioners. Yet nowadays fieldwork often gets tossed along the wayside as a reason for holiday (or similar experience), especially when advanced GIScience and new laboratory applications/techniques are readily availa...

IN 1933, AFTER FORTY-THREE years of controversy and disquiet, the 1890s Castlewood Dam collapsed, causing one of the worst floods ever reported on Cherry Creek in Denver, Colorado. However, despite the colos-sal damages and resultant economic woes, the flood and its profound impacts have remained widely under-researched, and, for many, forgotten. H...

A recent special section in Science addressed "Grand Challenges of Science Education" (Hines, Mer-vis, McCartney, & Wible, 2013). Yet aside from one article focused on sexual harassment, each author left out a powerful component in sci-ence pedagogy: fieldwork. Though not necessarily the crux of learning or pedagogy at the undergraduate level, fiel...

Researchers exploring rock decay hail from chemistry, engineering, geography, geology, paleoclimatology, soil science, and other disciplines and use laboratory, microscopic, theoretical, and field-based strategies. We illustrate here how the tradition of fieldwork forms the core knowledge of rock decay and continues to build on the classic research...

As an alternative to traditional upper-level physical geography pedagogy (labs, quizzes, tests, papers, and occasional field exercises), this article outlines and analyzes a 10-week large-group research endeavor conceived and executed by undergraduates where they explored aspects of project construction, methods, analyses, and group dynamics. These...

The rock weathering literature contains the hypothesis that case hardening exemplifies equifinality, where the same end state can be reached by many potential processes in an open system. We present analytical data from six different sites in the western USA to assess the hypothesis of equifinality. Case hardening can be produced on: (1) sandstone...

Concept maps created by introductory physical geography students were analyzed to assess the power of a field index in students learning concepts related to rock decay. Students (n = 571) were randomly selected from introductory physical geography laboratory session where 86% had never taken another college-level geography course, 46% had never tak...

M ost integrative approaches to rock art management necessitate far greater financing and specialty skills than land managers have at their disposal. The rock art stability index (RASI, Dorn et al. 2008) remedies this drawback for cultural heritage resource managers by offering an accessible technique to assess a rock art panel's stability. Unlike...

Consisting of various cyanobacteria, algae, lichens, and mosses, biological soil crusts (BSC) represent microbial ecosystems essential for many arid and semi-arid regions. Their structure and function have been researched intensely with little attention to spatial characteristics. Because it studies biota-landform interactions, biogeomorphology as...

This paper explores the use of a new pedagogy, the rock art stability index (RASI), to engender deeper understanding of weathering science concepts by students. Owing to its dynamic nature, RASI represents a quintessential actor network for weathering science, because it links task in the landscape with an active material practice and an alternativ...

Extensive research has been conducted on the structure, function, and management of biological soil crusts (BSCs) (cf. Belnap and Lange 2003). Little research, however, has been conducted on spatial aspects of BSCs, such as (micro)climate, biogeomorphology, and model-building for large area assessment and management. This preliminary experiment exp...

Daniel D. Arreola is professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University. William E. Doolittle is the Erich W. Zimmermann Regents' Professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas at Austin. Lindsey Sutton is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Geographical Sciences a...

The June 2005 Cave Creek Complex Fire is one of the largest historic wild - fires to affect Arizona's Sonoran Desert. Post-fire gullying was measured using �:�900-scale aerial photographs. Detailed comparisons of pre-fire and post-fire imagery, selected using a stratified randomly sampling ap - proach, reveal far more gullies formed in contact with...

Characterized by expensive housing, high socioeconomic status, and topographic relief, Upper Sonoran Lifestyle communities are found primarily along the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) in the Phoenix, Arizona metro area. Communities like these sprawl into the wildlands in the United States Southwest, creating a distinct urban fringe. This article, t...

The national demand for online teacher graduate degrees has led to a national explosion of pedagogically oriented curriculum and instruction master's degrees in private and public universi- ties. Subject-matter-rich online graduate degrees for teachers have been slow to follow. This paper describes the design and implementation of the only online g...

In order to identify those petroglyph and pictograph panels most susceptible to damage, we propose a field-friendly index that incorporates elements of existing strategies to characterize the stability of stone. The Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) has six general categories: Site Setting (geological factors); Weakness of the Rock Art Panel; Evidenc...

In order to identify those petroglyph and pictograph panels most susceptible to damage, we propose a field-friendly index that incorporates elements of existing strategies to characterize the stability of stone. The Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) has six general categories: Site Setting (geological factors); Weakness of the Rock Art Panel; Evidenc...

Using rock art as an alternative science pedagogy

This article explores the implementation of critical pedagogic practices into a graduate level landscape seminar Web site. Critical pedagogy seeks to reconfigure student-teacher relationships and disrupt embedded power regimes within academia and society. Critical pedagogic practices create a dialogue amongst learners, where everyone has a stake in...