Anders Rapp

Anders Rapp (1927–1998) was a Swedish geomorphologist and geographer who pioneered quantitative geomorphological approach on mass movements and erosion. He was the first to make a comprehensive study on avalanche boulder tongues. Most of Rapp's works were made in the Scandinavian Mountains and Spitsbergen including the areas of Kärkevagge near Abisko and Kebnekaise.

Studying under Filip Hjulström, Rapp got his Ph.D. at Uppsala University in 1961, and was appointed professor of physical geography at Lund University in 1977. In 1980, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Research contributions

Building on the process-geomorphology tradition of his supervisor Hjulström, Rapp introduced systematic sediment-budget techniques to cold-region landscapes. His 1961 thesis on the Kärkevagge valley quantified every pathway by which rock is liberated from frost-shattered cliffs, transported downslope by avalanches and debris flows, and ultimately stored in valley-floor talus—demonstrating that avalanche boulder tongues can move blocks more than 70 tonnes at mean rates of 0.5 metres per year. The work became a benchmark for coupling climate, slope process and landform evolution, and earned him the Kirk Bryan Award of the Geological Society of America in 1962.