ANTIQUITY OF LANDFORMS - AN EXTREMELY UNLIKELY CONCEPT VINDICATED

Both commonsense and the authority of many eminent geologists, beginni ng with James Hutton, suggest that the Earth's land surfaces are youth ful. Vet for the past halt century or more palaeo-surfaces have been r ecognised, and compelling evidence adduced pointing to their great ant iquity, not only in Australia and Africa but also, and in lesser measu re, in the Americas and Europe. Furthermore, coincident with the disco very of these old palaeoforms, factors conducive to their survival wer e independently suggested. Despite this, land surfaces continued to be seen as youthful and in many respects this remains the conventional v iew. Why the intellectual breakthroughs implied by the recognition of very old palaeosurfaces occurred in the New World are discussed, as ar e the possible reasons many geomorphologists remain unconvinced of the great antiquity of landforms. The implications of the antiquity of la nd surfaces in the broader geological context are briefly mentioned.