Studying geomorphic responses to environmental changes during the Quaternary provides important data for understanding the nature and impact of future global change. The oscillation of climates during this period can be long-term (i.e. interglacial/glacial cycles) or short-term (i.e. sub-Milankovitch events such as Dansgaard-Oeschgar cycles, the Younger Dryas or the Little Ice Age). With respect to understanding the impacts of future climate as predicted by the IPCC, establishing the geomorphic response to past climatic events is only part of the issue. It is just as significant to be able to decipher the impact of climate events on the landscape from other drivers of change, such as changing landuse, environmental management strategies and/or autogenic processes. This calls for a thorough understanding of how Earth surface processes have responded to multiple-drivers over different timescales.

The aim of this session is to provide a forum for researchers working on geomorphic response to environmental change from a range of perspectives. The session will cover soil systems and soil erosion; the coupling of sediment sources and sinks; and the geomorphic response recorded in key depositional environments (alluvial, glacial, aeolian and coastal); all considered over different timescales from past responses during the Pleistocene and/or Holocene to contemporary processes. The papers cover a broad spectrum of methodologies ranging from describing changes in morphology, sedimentology and stratigraphy, including the dating of geomorphic sediments, to monitoring and modelling approaches. We believe that combining papers that cover a broad variety of conceptual approaches and environments will lead to an improved understanding of geomorphic response to past and future global change.