First approach to review Badlands landscape evolution in Quaternary

Abstract

Badlands are defined with different criteria: lithological conditions, weathering processes, landform features, agriculture potentiality, and even the difficulty of being crossed by humans. “Badlands” refers to regions that have soft and poorly consolidated material outcrops, limited vegetation, reduced or no human activity, and a wide range of geomorphic processes, such as weathering, erosion, landslides, and piping. These features interact at different spatial and temporal scales to shape these distinct landforms. Three general initiation patterns can be distinguished: first two patterns correspond to the expansion of hillslope gullies initiated at mid-slope sections, caused by within-slope conditions, or at the slope bottom, through a combination of within-slope and basal conditions; the third one to the disruption of a non-channelized hillslope by mass movements that open a bare soil or rock scar to weathering and water erosion. The analysis of these phenomena is particularly relevant in subhumid and humid badlands, where these landforms are relatively small and young, which means that their initiation can be physically examined. Conversely, in semi-arid and arid areas, badlands are usually very extensive and relatively old, so that their initiation factors are frequently obscured by the action of other drivers that control the long-term evolution of these systems. This study makes a first approach to review already published studies focussed on the Quaternary and landscape evolution in regions with Badlands. A list of publications in these topics was compiled using Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. In total, the results showed 67, 52, 79, 99, and 0. The database is analysed with the purpose of shedding light to the question ‘how and why badlands appear and evolve?’ in order to better understand how the current Global Change can influence their future evolution, and their on and off-site effects in the eco-geomorphological system and human activities.