MODELOS MORFOGENÉTICOS E TECTÔNICA GLOBAL: REFLEXÕES CONCILIATÓRIAS

Abstract

The user of models of relief formation and evolution should be surrounded by precautions basedon the previous understanding of the theoretical assumptions that support them. The case of therelationship between geomorphological dynamics and tectonic activity in reviewed on the basis ofnew geotectonic concepts. Davis and Penck's models occurred when the paradigms of "GlobalTectonics" had not yet been enunciate. For that reason they are usually presented as antagonisticmodels. However, when analyzed in the expressions, they present some compatibility and/orcomplementarity. The differences in their formulations tend to express the regionally observeddifferences in terms of magnitude, rates, and frequencies of the morphotectonic phenomena. Thelatter, actually, result from specificities of the geotectonic contexts. A simple solution to theproblem of theoretical modeling in geomorphology would be to reason based on the notion of"rhythms" applied to the theree fundamental factors controling relief formation from regional tocontinental scale: Climate, Tectonic, and Sea Level.