Spaced Out :: 04 2009

Smith, M.J.
Journal of Maps, v2008, 510-516.

It is with much tiredness, and anticipation for 2009, that this annual December editorial is being written. If 2007 was characterised by a period of exciting growth, then this year can be described as consolidation. Whilst it may appear that we have delivered “more of the same”, there has been a considerable amount of behind the scenes administration that has led to continued growth. In my annual review of activities of the Journal of Maps last year I noted we had gone from 5 articles (56 pages) in 2005 to 27 articles (376 pages) in 2007. This growth is again shown this year with 38 articles (508 pages). To put this within the context of my own discipline, geomorphology, the top two journals published 244 and 148 articles each in 2007. This is clearly a subject specific benchmark, but shows generally that academic publishing is labour intensive with relatively low numbers of publications. That we have been this successful is a mark of the importance now being given to the presentation of research maps.

Smith, M.J., Rose, J. and Lukas, S.
Journal of Maps, v2008, 290-298.

This volume of the Journal of Maps is one of four volumes published from an Annual Discussion Meeting (ADM) of the Quaternary Research Association (QRA), in January 2008, to examine the Quaternary of the British Isles and the adjoining seas. This volume deals with evidence for Quaternary environmental change in map-form, and the other volumes, which will be published in the journals Quaternary Science Reviews, Journal of Quaternary Science and Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association will be concerned, respectively, with Quaternary climates and climate change, Quaternary landscapes, and Quaternary Geology.

Paron, P. and Smith, M.J. (2008)
Journal of Maps, v2008, 197-200.

Mapping forms and deposits, and inferring processes, of a landscape is a very complex exercise (Demek, 1982). Its difficulty lies, on the one hand, in the challenge of identifying the processes themselves, their spatial and temporal extent (including the magnitude of activity) and the underlying base rocks (both in the field and through desk based analysis) and, on the other hand, the implementation of effective cartographic representation. General geomorphological maps are often driven by the need to understand the evolution of a portion of the landscape and a need to forecast future evolutionary trends. They have thus become a major research instrument in their own right (Hayden, 1986). Applied geomorphological mapping has to consider the evolution of the area under investigation, even if the specific objectives are more limited.

Smith, M.J., Knight, J. and Field, K.S.(2008)
Journal of Maps, v2008, 378-398.

Glacial landform mapping is one of the primary inputs for the reconstruction of past glacial environments and processes, potentially inferring maximum ice sheet extent and dynamics. Depositional landforms (e.g. drumlins, end moraines, ribbed moraines, eskers) are often used to infer former ice sheet conditions, with erosional indicators receiving less attention. For nearly 200 years, striae (linear, subglacial erosional marks on bedrock up to several metres long) have been recorded as evidence for former ice flow direction. Cumulative data collection by many researchers in Ireland since ~1850 has led to a large published and unpublished archive of striae observations. This research has collated over 5000 individual observations from Geological Survey of Ireland maps and memoirs, the published (peer-reviewed) literature, and unpublished work (theses and fieldnotes). These records are now unified in a single database, georeferenced to the Irish National Grid, with the accuracy of individual observations qualitatively assessed.

Rose, J. and Smith, M.J. (2008)
Journal of Maps, v2008, 399-416.

This paper presents a 1:25,000 scale geomorphological map of the Glasgow region, western central Scotland, an area that was glaciated during the Last Glacial Maximum and, in part, during the Younger Dryas glaciation. The text accompanying the map sets out the historical context of the mapping exercise and describes the process of geomorphological mapping at 1:10,560 scale. The text outlines briefly the results of the mapping exercise, in terms of the map evidence recorded and the interpretation of Quaternary landscape evolution. The paper is not designed to provide a comprehensive review of the geomorphology and Quaternary history of the area which can be found in the references cited therein.