Julius Büdel

Julius Büdel (8 August 1903 – 28 August 1983) was a German geomorphologist noted for his work on the influence of climate in shaping landscapes and landforms. In his work Büdel stressed the importance of inherited landforms in present-day landscapes and argued that many landforms are the result of a combination of processes, and not of a single process.

Through his life Büdel published three influential morphoclimatic zoning schemes. The first, in 1948, was followed by another in 1963, and a final version in 1977. Büdel's schemes emphasise planation and valley-cutting in relation to climate, arguing that valley-cutting is dominant in subpolar regions while planation is so in the tropics.

The Büdel Islands in Antarctica were named after him.

Morphogenetic zones according to Büdel (1977) German name English translation Latitude Example Glacial zone (and immediately adjacent area) 90–65° N60–90° S Greenland, Antarctica Die subpolare Zone exzessiver Talbildung Subpolar zone of excessive valley cutting 80–60° N Canadian Arctic, Taymyr Peninsula Taiga valley cutting zone, in the permafrost region 70–50° N Russian Far East Ektropische Zone retardierter Talbildung Ectropic zone of retarded valley cutting 60–35° N35–55° S Most of Europe, Patagonia, Eurasian Steppe Subtropic zone of mixed relief development, etesian region 40–30° N30–35° S Morocco, Syria, Central Chile. Subtropic zone of mixed relief development, monsoonal region 45–25° N20–40° S Uruguay, Eastern Cape, South Korea Die randtropische Zone exzessiver Flächenbildung Peritropical zone of excessive planation 30° N–30° S Venezuela, Angola, Mozambique, Vietnam Die innertropische Zone partieller Flächenbildung Inter-tropical zone of partial planation 20° N–10° S Panama, Gabon, Sumatra Warme Trockenzone der Flächenerhaltung und traditionalen Weiterbildung (vorweg durch Sandschwemmebenen) Warm arid zone of surface preservation and traditionally continued development, largely through fluvio-aeolian sandplains 35–10° N5–30° SAtacama, Sahara, Thar, Australian Outback Winterharte Trockenzone der Flächenüberprägung (Transformation) vorweg durch Pedimenteund Glacis Winter cold arid zone of surface transformation, largely through pediments and glacis 50–30° N Gobi, Taklamakan, Maranjab