The department was established in 2000 by dividing the Department of Geomorphology into two: Geomorphology and Constructive Geography and Cartography.
The founder and first head of the department was Professor Ivan Kovalychuk, a renowned scientist-geographer, geomorphologist, hydroecologist, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Ukrainian Ecological Academy of Sciences, Academic Secretary of the Earth Science Department of the Academy of Higher Education of Ukraine, full member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, Honored Scientist and Technician of Ukraine, and founder of the Lviv School of Ecological Geomorphology.
Under his leadership, the department significantly expanded with specialists, both in the department itself and in the Natural College. At different times, specialists from the Ecology Department of the Lviv City Council and the State Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Department of Lviv Region (Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Lviv Regional State Administration), geologists and hydrogeologists of JSC “Geotechnical Institute”, and hydrogeologists of the Lviv Regional Water Resources Administration (Basin Water Resources Administration of the Western Bug and Sian Rivers) worked as part-time employees.
From 2007 to 2008, the head of the department was Associate Professor Petro Voloshyn, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences.
From 2008 to 2016, the department was headed by Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Professor Valeriy Petlin. From 2016 to 2018, he served as acting head, and since 2018, the department has been headed by Associate Professor Yevhen Ivanov.