The earth is a unique planet—the only one known to sustain life. Enveloped by mighty oceans, clothed by soil, lofty mountains and dense forests, fed by rivers and nourished by rains–it has been held in awe and even worshiped over centuries. The natural wonders of the earth are sculpted by nature over geological times. It is these architectural wonders or landforms, its evolution and the processes of formation that constitute geomorphology. A subject common to physical geography, geology and natural sciences—geomorphology is a fascinating subject in the sense that it answers questions of natural curiosity and encourages us to understand our surroundings. The processes that play a role in formation of landforms, their evolution and disappearance holds the key to sustenance of life and the preservation of biodiversity. In fact, some of the processes such as the three stages in development of a fluvial regime draw a close analogy from the life cycle of humans­—young, mature and old.

An attempt has been made to cover the four major domains of physical geomorphology—fluvial, desert, glacial and coastal geomorphology and highlight the essential landforms and structures associated with these processes in the current volume. Some of the key morphological features exposed in different parts of India such as karsts caves, columnar basalts, the Ram Setu, subsidence of land in West Bengal, badlands etc have also been briefly touched.