Role of Dictionary of Landforms in Society

Abstract

The Dictionary of Landforms was edited and published in 2017 by the Japanese Geomorphological Union (JGU) as a part of its 35th anniversary projects. To commemorate its publication, a symposium: “Communication between Society and Geomorphology” was held with the aim of highlighting the professional role of geomorphology within society. This paper is a summary of the introductory lecture from the symposium with the further aim of reaching the general public. It is known that landforms have a direct impact on many aspects of human activity, such as habitation, agriculture and transportation. Most natural disasters, except those triggered by internal geomorphic agents such as earthquakes or volcanism, occur in different modes and magnitudes under the effects of landforms, i.e. the geomorphic species and setting at a given site. For this reason the expansion of accurate knowledge regarding geomorphology is essential within wide aspects of society. The Dictionary of Landforms, therefore, with its 8,626 extensive entries on all aspects of landforms in Japanese, will help the general public understand landforms and by doing so to contribute to Japanese society.