Geomorphological tools for mapping natural hazards

This special issue presents contributions about the methodologies and tools for representing and mapping geomorphological hazards, with a focus upon hazard and risk classification and tools for land planning, risk reduction and mitigation. Geomorphological mapping can be described as a group of techniques employed to systematically record the morphology of the ground, landforms, landscapeforming processes and materials that constitute the surface of the Earth (Griffiths et al., 2011; Lee, 2001). In this sense, it represents the result of the synthesis between the different ways and methods used to represent landforms, both in natural and urban landscapes. The challenges that arise from socioeconomic modifications of the landscape (e.g. abandonment of rural areas, inadequate exploitation of potentially hazardous zones) and climate change (e.g. increasing extreme weather events) demand that this cartography should quantitatively represent landforms and their associated processes, in order to elevate geomorphological maps into effective tools for land management and risk reduction. Cartographic approaches, which are now used for the assessment of geomorphological hazards, involve methodologies for input creation (e.g. maps of predisposing/ triggering factors and inventories of past geomorphological processes or instabilities; i.e.: Lazzari et al., 2018; Lupiano et al., 2019) and cartographic and/or WebGIS outputs (e.g. resolution, mapping units, classification criteria, methods of validation; i.e. Cama et al., 2016; Wilde et al., 2018). In addition, methodological standards and guidelines (i.e.: Gonçalves et al., 2015; Griffiths & Abraham, 2008) must also be defined through geomorphological cartography for complete coverage, the automatic and semiautomatic classification of terrain using remotelysensed data and physically-based or statistical modelling in order to assess hazard and risk. The use of geomorphological mapping in the academic community, but also in applied fieldwork, has shown significant potential (Smith et al., 2011) and reached a maturity such that it is systematically employed for the production of geomorphological maps that allow the representation of hazards and so contribute to an evaluation of related risks. This special issue contributes to its ongoing development through the presentation of a range of perspectives, as well as related tools and methods used to acquire geomorphological data.