Geomorphological studies in Brazil

theoretical and methodological evolution

Abstract

This paper discusses the process of institutionalization of Geography teaching in Brazilian universities in the first half of the 20th century and its importance for the development and consolidation of national geomorphological research. The methodology adopted consisted of a bibliographic review.  Geomorphological studies in Brazil emerged in the first decades of the 20th century in line with the institutionalization of the teaching of Geography in universities. The participation of French geographers such as Pierre Monbeig, Pierre Deffontaines, and Emanuel de Martonne was decisive in this process. The first works, carried out from the perspective of the theory of the Geographical Cycle of Erosion, although they presented inconsistencies in their model of geomorphological evolution, have contributed significantly to the development of theories more consistent with the tropical reality of Brazilian territory. The diffusion of German Geography, mainly through the ideas of Walter Penk (1924), was of great importance for the construction of new interpretative models of relief. It is noteworthy that the consolidation of the methodological bases of the geomorphological research in Brazil occurred from the 1950s with the recognition of the importance of climate studies in the modeling of relief, the development of geomorphologic mapping and the use of Remote Sensing in the studies of the territory.