{"id":998,"date":"2025-06-19T15:01:30","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T13:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/?page_id=998"},"modified":"2026-02-04T12:06:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T11:06:31","slug":"unil-geomorphological-legend","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/research\/geomorphological-mapping\/unil-geomorphological-legend\/","title":{"rendered":"UNIL geomorphological legend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">UNIL geomorphological legend<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left justified\">The development of the UNIL geomorphological legend started in the late 1980&rsquo;s, aiming to provide a simple but comprehensive and consistent symbology at the 1&nbsp;:&nbsp;10&rsquo;000 scale. It is primarily a morphogenetic legend, with morphodynamic components (distinction between erosion and accumulation; distinction of activity levels in certain landforms). Its main characteristics can be summarised as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"justified bullet-indent\">Colours represent geomorphological process domains (e.g. ochre for gravitational, purple for glacial, mauve for periglacial, green for fluvial, etc.).<br>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"justified bullet-indent\">Landforms are represented by standard symbols drawn in the colour of the corresponding process domain.<br>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"justified bullet-indent\">Erosion and accumulation surfaces are distinguished by the background colour. Erosional landforms have a transparent background, while accumulations have a light background in the colour of the corresponding process domain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"justified\">The spatial distribution of colours therefore gives an overview of dominating processes and their relative importance.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1088\" height=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/files\/2026\/02\/geomorph_map_gruobtalli4.png\" alt=\"Geomorphological map of the Grobt\u00e4lli catchment, Valais (Swiss Alps)\" class=\"wp-image-1085\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/files\/2026\/02\/geomorph_map_gruobtalli4.png 1088w, https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/files\/2026\/02\/geomorph_map_gruobtalli4-272x300.png 272w, https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/files\/2026\/02\/geomorph_map_gruobtalli4-928x1024.png 928w, https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/files\/2026\/02\/geomorph_map_gruobtalli4-768x847.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"justified\">The legend was first developed for Adobe Illustrator in the 1990s. It was then adapted for ArcGIS users in 2013 (see below). Finally, a QGIS version is available since 2025 (see below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file wp-block-file-custom\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-228a9c65-5ca3-4336-8949-1e1df8e6daee\" href=\"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/files\/2026\/01\/geomorphological_legend_unil-brochure-2025_en.pdf\">Field brochure (bilingual FR\/EN)<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file justified\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-097a7081-6915-468d-841e-d91c5bfa197a\" href=\"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/files\/2026\/01\/publications.pdf\">A selected list of contributions using the Unil legend can be downloaded here.<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Versions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">ArcGIS<a href=\"https:\/\/www.unil.ch\/igd\/fr\/home\/menuinst\/recherche\/marges-environnement-paysages\/la-legende-geomorphologique-de-lunil.html#top\"><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<p class=\"justified\">This version is designed for use in ArcGIS (see presentation poster on right). It is distributed as a blank Geodatabase file. Setup instructions in ArcGIS Pro are provided below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"justified\">The comprehensive Val d\u2019H\u00e9rens geomorphological map was established with this version (Lambiel et al., 2016, Maillard et al., 2013). Recently, new symbols were added for aeolian and coastal processes and landforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-5ea99165-8b6b-488a-93ae-bc48e334aa5e\" href=\"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/files\/2025\/06\/geomorphological_legend_unil_v4_11.2022.gdb_.zip\">Geomorphological_legend_UniL_V4_11.2022.gdb<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-48ae1e6b-1bca-4b06-81c6-a5027c4eba0e\" href=\"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/files\/2025\/06\/instructions_geomorphological_legend_unil.pdf\">Setup instructions<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-5f6a83cb-7577-4ba4-b6ef-e4899a37da92\" href=\"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/files\/2025\/06\/geomorphological_legend_unil.pdf\">List of symbols<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">QGIS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"justified\">This version was developed in 2025. It is distributed as a blank GeoPackage containing point, polygon, and line layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-2555c755-3856-462b-b127-5bcb176f2ccb\" href=\"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/files\/2026\/01\/unil_geomorphological_legend.zip\">UNIL_geomorphological_legend<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-16f3a7a8-5c26-474e-a159-751fcfa251de\" href=\"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/files\/2026\/01\/20260110_unil_geomorpho_qgis.pdf\">User manual<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UNIL geomorphological legend The development of the UNIL geomorphological legend started in the late 1980&rsquo;s, aiming to provide a simple but comprehensive and consistent symbology at the 1&nbsp;:&nbsp;10&rsquo;000 scale. It is primarily a morphogenetic legend, with morphodynamic components (distinction between erosion and accumulation; distinction of activity levels in certain landforms). Its main characteristics can be &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/research\/geomorphological-mapping\/unil-geomorphological-legend\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continuer la lecture<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> de &laquo;&nbsp;UNIL geomorphological legend&nbsp;&raquo;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1003017,"featured_media":0,"parent":996,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-998","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1003017"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1095,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/998\/revisions\/1095"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/hmg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}