Geologic Clarity: A Geologist's Perspective On Landscape Aesthetics

Abstract

Emotional response to landscape is governed by both subjective and objective factors: an individual's personal history as experienced in a particular cultural setting and the actual phsyical character of the external environment. Objective elements of landscape that lend it universal appeal have been identified and interpreted in terms of “habitat theory,” “orientation,” and “existential space.” Such concepts reasonably explain aesthetically pleasing landscapes as those conducive, in the broad sense, to bodily and psychological survival. To test the validity of these abstractions and to demonstrate the effect and value of approaching landscape from a particular perspective, three specific landscapes (prairie breaks, dry-country canyon, and glaciated mountain) are explored through the filter of a geologist's vision. For a geologist, the pleasing landscape is endowed with geologic clarity: material, structure, process, and time are meaningfully articulated. It is suggested that the tasks of landscape preservation and landscape design will be facilitated through an appreciation and assembly of diverse perspectives.