Julius Büdel

Julius Büdel (8 August 1903 – 28 August 1983) was a German geomorphologist noted for his work on the influence of climate in shaping landscapes and landforms.[1] In his work Büdel stressed the importance of inherited landforms in present-day landscapes and argued that many landforms are the result of a combination of processes, and not of a single process.[2] Büdel estimated that 95% of mid-latitude landforms are relict.[3][2] Büdel studied both cold-climate processes in Svalbard and "tropical" weathering processes in India to understand the origin of the relief of Central Europe, which he argued was a palimpsest of landforms formed at different times and under different climates.[2] For Central Europe Büdel concluded that in Late Cretaceous to Early Pliocene times etchplains formed. Then in Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene times a transition period occurred in landscape forming processes. Finally in the Late Pleistocene periglaciation and deep permafrost made Central Europe a place of "excessive valley cutting". Holocene developments would not have affected much of the landscape other than adding a deep soil cover.[4]

Through his life Büdel published three influential morphoclimatic zoning schemes. The first, in 1948, was followed by another in 1963, and a final version in 1977.[5] Büdel's schemes emphasise planation and valley-cutting in relation to climate, arguing that valley-cutting is dominant in subpolar regions while planation is so in the tropics.[3]

Much of Büdel's 1977 book Klima-geomorphologie was considered outdated as of 2006. However its pioneering approaches make it a classic in geomorphological literature.[2]

The Büdel Islands in Antarctica were named after him.[6]