周廷儒院士的自然地理学思想与成就

Zhou Tingru's academic thoughts and achievements in physical geography

周廷儒院士是我国著名的地理学家、地理教育家,中国新生代地理学创建人。他开拓学科新方向的学术思想与成就,为地理学新一代创新人才的成长提供了典型范例。周廷儒院士为解决中国何以有特殊的江南湿润亚热带和独特的自然环境格局两个区域自然地理学难题,博览古今中外书刊,寻求立足学科前沿的科学答案。他在1960年提出"以古论今,预见未来"的超前学术思想,开创了探讨区域起源、演变与发展的自然地理学新方向——新生代地理学,使中国的区域自然地理研究迈上新里程,步入世界前列。周先生明确了自然地理学的研究核心为地理环境的演变,确立的地理环境演变的时间起点为新生代初期。他所论述的新生代地理演变研究的基本原理包括:①水平地带被破坏后产生各级区域;②地理环境演变受主导因素组合定律控制;③驱动演变的能源有内能和外能,以内能占优势。同时,他还对地理环境演变的分析与综合研究方法进行了阐述。周先生的学术成就主要在于明确了中国自然地理原始水平地带遭到破坏的时代在古近纪末,五大自然地理区主要形成在新近纪及其以来,经过第四纪演变,形成现代中国地理环境的格局。他的论著,特别是"中国自然地理——新生代古地理"的出版,标志着中国区域自然地理学时代巅峰研究成果的问世。他提出的"以古论今,预见未来"的定理,已经成为当今及未来自然地理学,特别是区域自然地理学研究的基本指导思想。

The academic thoughts and achievements of the pioneer scientists are valuable scientific wealth and educational resources. Professor Zhou Tingru is a famous geographer, educationalist and the founder of the Cenozoic geography in China. His academic ideas and achievements in developing a new branch of physical geography provide a representative example for the growth of the younger generation of innovative geographers. To seek for the answers of two regional physical geographic problems that why the subtropical region in China is humid instead of arid and why China has a unique pattern of physical geographic environment, Professor Zhou had immerged in extensive readings. After realizing that each physical geographic region has its own history, he, standing at the academic frontier of his time, put forward the thought that “the past is the key to the present and the future” and initiated Cenozoic geography, a new branch of physical geography, which deals with the origin, evolution, and development of regions. Thus, he started a new research branch and elevated the regional physical geographic research of China to a new stage and the front rank of the world. Professor Zhou clarified that the evolution of geographic environment is the core content of physical geography, and that the start point of geographical environment evolution is the early phase of the Cenozoic. The basic principles of the Cenozoic geographical evolution he expounded includes three essentials： 1） the regions of different levels are formed when the zonality is disintegrated or interrupted; 2） the evolution of geographic environment is controlled by the rule of dominant factor combination; 3） the driving force of evolution has both endogenic and exogenic sources of energy, but the endogenetic one dominates the processes. At the same time, he also summed up the research methods of analysis and synthesis. The main academic achievement Professor Zhou obtained is the conclusion that the disintegration or interruption of the original zonality in China took place at the end of the Palaeogene, the five physical geographic regions emerged in the Neogene and have evolved over the Neogene and Quaternary periods, and then, the modern pattern of physical geographic environment in China formed. Professor Zhou＇s works, especially the “Physical Geography of China： Palaeogeography of the Cenozoic Era” builds up a milestone for the regional physical geography of China. His idea that “the past is the key to the present and the furore” has been accepted as a basic research guide now and in future for the study of physical geography and especially for the study of regional physical geography.