Research by the COLAPSO group, conducted by Jilvana Ferreira da Silva Souza under the supervision of Grace Bungenstab Alves, examines how inadequate infrastructure, racial inequalities and public policy decisions shape mass movement disasters in Salvador, Brazil. Analysis of historical records and institutional documents highlights the limitations of emergency responses and the need for sustained prevention policies and access to safe housing.
A study published in Earth Surface Processes and Landforms mapped 61,005 linear water erosion foci in Mato Grosso, Brazil, and identified 15 critical areas. The results show how relief, soils, and mismatches between land use and agricultural land capability help explain the concentration of ravines and gullies, while providing insights for land-use planning and soil conservation.
Study published in Catena shows how soils and landforms record different stages in the evolution of a sedimentary plateau in the Brazilian semiarid region. Deeply weathered Ferralsols, shallow soils, ferruginous crusts, and alluvial deposits reveal the interplay among pedogenesis, erosion, sedimentation, landform stability, and environmental change over time.
An e-book edited by Grace Bungenstab Alves brings together studies on erosion, landforms, and slope dynamics across different regions of Brazil, highlighting the contribution of geomorphology to understanding landscapes in transformation.
Why do Latossolos occur in Brazil’s Northeast semiarid region? Drawing on the paper by Grace Bungenstab Alves, this text shows how reading soil and relief together reveals both legacies from wetter phases and more recent landscape reorganization. Two examples illustrate the argument: Vertisols with Holocene OSL ages and the Latossolo–Planossolo transition. Together, they highlight that separate inventories of soils and landforms do not explain processes, and that transition zones often hold the key evidence for interpretation.
Bibliometric analysis reveals 25 years of evolution of the Brazilian Journal of Geomorphology, highlighting the consolidation of national scientific production, the growth of international networks, and the challenges of expanding emerging subfields such as Geodiversity, Geochronology, and Geomorphological Heritage.
This post presents a critical review of the concept of toposequence in soil science. Based on a bibliometric analysis, the article identifies three main approaches: geomorphic surfaces, catena, and toposequence. It also proposes more precise criteria for the use of toposequence in pedogeomorphological studies.
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