Relief is one of the dominant soil forming factors, controlling processes like sedimentation and erosion, surface and subsurface water and element flow. The microclimate, e.g. humidity and temperature, can also change quickly within a short distance, due to slope and aspect changes. In addition, the former relief (paleorelief) often looked quite different from the modern relief, because it has generally been modulated by accumulation or erosion over long time periods, as shown in Figure 1.

1 - Evolution of a landscape which could have happened in any alpine environment. The green line indicates the paleorelief, which has been modulated by various processes.

29 August 2011
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