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Time and the rivers flowing: Fluvial geomorphology since 1960

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DOI: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.04.012

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 Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Geomorphology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph

Review

Time and the rivers flowing: Fluvial geomorphology since 1960

Ellen Wohl
Department of Geosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1482, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Fluvial geomorphology has been the largest single subdiscipline within geomorphology for many decades. Fluvial
Received 26 December 2013 geomorphic expertise is integral to understanding and managing rivers and to developing strategies for sustain-
Received in revised form 27 March 2014 able development. This paper provides an overview of some of the significant advances in fluvial geomorphology
Accepted 1 April 2014
between 1960 and 2010 with respect to: conceptual models; fluvial features and environments being studied;
Available online 15 April 2014
tools used by fluvial geomorphologists; geomorphic specialty groups within professional societies; journals in
Keywords:
which fluvial geomorphic research is published; and textbooks of fluvial geomorphology. During this half centu-
Rivers ry, fluvial geomorphology broadened considerably in scope, from a focus primarily on physical principles under-
Fluvial geomorphology lying process and form in lower gradient channels with limited grain size range, to a more integrative view of
History rivers as ecosystems with nonlinear behavior and great diversity of gradient, substrate composition, and grain
Conceptual model size. The array of tools for making basic observations, analyzing data, and disseminating research results also ex-
panded considerably during this period, as did the diversity of the fluvial geomorphic community.
© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
My intent in this paper is to review primary developments in fluvial
geomorphology during the period 1960–2010. This is not an exhaustive
review of the many changes within the discipline during this period of
half a century, but instead focuses on what I consider to be some of
the more important advances in conceptual frameworks, the diversity
of fluvial environments receiving scientific scrutiny, the tools employed
by geomorphologists to study rivers and to communicate resulting in-
sights, and the journals and textbooks that summarize the fluvial geo-
morphic community's understanding of rivers. I suggest that fluvial
geomorphology came of age as a subdiscipline, in terms of having qual-
itative and quantitative conceptual models that articulate expected pro-
cess, form, and response in rivers. Fluvial geomorphology has remained
the largest subdiscipline within geomorphology in terms of the propor-
tion of total geomorphic journal articles.
The context in which fluvial geomorphologists approach river systems
has broadened substantially during the past half century. Geomorpholo-
gists have never examined river channels in isolation from the greater en-
vironment, but with time the discipline has increasingly emphasized
explicit integration with principles derived from geology (tectonics and
topography through time), biology (bio- or zoogeomorphology), ecology
(rivers as ecosystems), and geography (legacy effects), among others.
Geomorphology has also increasingly emphasized the holistic approach
that is reflected in phrases such as ‘Earth system science’ or the ‘critical
zone.’ Contemporary fluvial geomorphology reflects a much more diverse
E-mail address: ellen.wohl@colostate.edu.
scientific community in terms of gender, race, country of origin, and dis-
ciplinary training than did fluvial geomorphology in 1960.
I begin with a brief overview of trends in population and resource
use in the United States and the world circa 1960 and circa 2010, as
well as perceptions of rivers. I briefly review major themes in fluvial
geomorphology prior to 1960 and then discuss changes in fluvial geo-
morphology for each decade between 1960 and 2010, focusing on pa-
pers published in English. I close with comments on the status and
future of fluvial geomorphology. I focus on the United States in the sec-
tions on societal context, but much of the description of societal condi-
tions in 1960 and 2010 in the United States also applies to other high-
income countries in which the majority of fluvial geomorphic research
has been conducted to date.
2. The context for fluvial geomorphology
2.1. Society, the environment, and science circa 1960
Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, ~179,323,000 people lived
in the United States in 1960, creating an average population density of
18.2 people per km2, or 22.1 per km2 excluding Alaska. The Census Bu-
reau defines urban areas as having a population of 2500 or greater.
Based on this definition, 63% of the U.S. population in 1960 was urban.
Global population was approximately three billion, with about 30%
living in urban areas. Domesticated land accounted for ~ 35% of the
total ice-free area globally (Hooke et al., 2012). Because less than half
of the global population lived in urban areas, the average individual in
1960 likely spent at least some time around rivers that were not

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.04.012
0169-555X/© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
264 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282
intensively altered by human activities such as flow regulation or
channelization.
Within the United States, the emphasis on soil conservation after the
1930s Dust Bowl meant that features such as wooded shelterbelts be-
tween crop fields and along stream courses were more common than
they are today (Lana et al., 1980). People had altered land cover in parts
of North America for centuries, although the intensity and extent of
these alterations accelerated as agriculture spread with European settle-
ment. Another phase of extensive alteration of topography and land
cover in the continental United States was just getting started in 1960
with development of the interstate highway system (Bierman et al.,
2005), the growth of suburbs and associated commercial development
designed around personal automobiles (Rome, 2001), and the wide-
spread use of very large mechanized farm equipment. The cumulative
storage capacity behind dams was ~620 km3 (500 million ac-ft) (Graf,
1999), or just under half of one year's mean runoff within the United
States.
These statistics provide a comparison for population density and al-
teration of land cover and flow regimes in 2010, but the numbers also
provide some insight into how people perceived rivers in 1960. On one
hand, moderate to large rivers were primarily viewed from a utilitarian
perspective as resources to be used for transportation, power generation,
and water consumption. On the other hand, outside of the most densely
settled urban areas, children were likely to have some contact with rela-
tively natural environments, including rivers. Childhood interactions
with natural areas are likely to influence an individual's perceptions of
the world throughout that individual's life, as eloquently discussed by
Rachel Carson (1965) and Richard Louv (2008). The presence of a nearby
river that had not been heavily engineered or stabilized – but was acces-
sible for fishing, swimming, or boating – may have provided a connection
to and sense of ownership of local rivers that many urban and suburban
neighborhoods no longer provide.
The arms race known as the Cold War and the associated potential
for a massive nuclear war understandably preoccupied people when
they thought about potential threats to their society and themselves
(Whitfield, 1996). Although American intellectuals as diverse as
George Perkins Marsh (1864) and John Muir had been working to
alert people to the destructive effects of human use of natural resources
for a century, the recognition that humanity could conceivably destroy
most life on Earth by using atomic weapons led to a new respect for
the potential fragility of natural environments.
Awareness was growing of various forms of pollution. The 1962 pub-
lication of Silent Spring emphasized the dangers associated with syn-
thetic chemicals such as pesticides (Carson, 1962). The book was a
national bestseller that greatly increased public recognition of the ubiq-
uity and toxicity of pesticides. Widely publicized environmental disas-
ters helped increase awareness of severe water and air pollution. The
1952 and 1969 fires on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio (Wohl,
2004) were iconic events: water should not burn. Lethal smogs – such
as the 1948 event in Donora, Pennsylvania, which killed at least 20 peo-
ple, or the 1952 London smog that killed an estimated 12,000 people
(Davis, 2002) – became vivid illustrations that the surrounding air
was not necessarily safe to breathe. Attention to environmental issues
such as loss of fertile soil, clean water, and clean air and the extinction
of species gradually shifted public perceptions: the nineteenth-
century worldview of limitless natural resources and the continuing ex-
istence of a physical frontier somewhere on the globe was giving way to
a late twentieth century view of an endangered, fragile world in need of
protection. The latter view was reflected in the first Earth Day in 1970.
Despite increasing mistrust of technological products such as nuclear
power and pesticides, people in the U.S. on the whole may have had
more trust in science, technology, and the governmental authority that
commonly supported science and technology. The nation was in the
midst of a tremendous transformation in land cover and resource use
driven by applied science and technology. Manipulation of river environ-
ments via channelization, erecting dams, and constructing transportation
corridors along rivers accelerated during the 1950s and 1960s. Although
individuals and smaller groups within the growing environmental move-
ment protested these changes, public attitudes generally favored wide-
spread and intensive manipulation of natural environments for
perceived economic benefits and reduction of natural hazards. Based on
the content of articles in scientific journals and the popular press, there
was also less public and scientific awareness of the extent of river manip-
ulation and the negative effects of this manipulation.
Historical documents suggest that every generation since 1900 has
complained about the harried pace of modern life, but life in 1960
does seem to have moved at a slower pace than today. Long distance
travel was limited for the average person. Air travel was more expensive
and more time consuming, and much less common for either leisure or
business travelers. Sixty-two million passengers traveled on commer-
cial air flights in the United States in 1960. They flew mostly on
piston-driven planes that were slow and unreliable, with many more
accidents than today. Traveling even within a region, let alone across
the country, typically required multiple stops. In the United States, the
interstate highway system was still being developed and the national
road network was much less integrated, with poorer quality roads and
slower rates of travel than at present (Stewart, 1953). For a field-
based science like fluvial geomorphology, getting to field sites was a dif-
ferent proposition than we are now used to.
Most forms of communication were slower. Letters and scientific pa-
pers were written by hand or using typewriters, on paper, and delivered
via regular mail. Illustrations in technical papers were drawn by hand, in
many cases by professional draftsmen (and they were mostly men, as
were the scientists). Gray-scale photographs had to be supplied as nega-
tives that were then printed on paper. Telephones had to be connected to
a wall outlet. Journals were typically published once a month and deliv-
ered to libraries or individuals as paper copies. The only remote images
were aerial photographs taken from a plane and printed on paper. Al-
though there were undoubtedly examples of hurrying to get an exciting
new idea into print before someone else published a similar idea, the flu-
vial geomorphic community was much smaller than today in terms of
the number of individuals actively conducting research and the number
of countries represented in the research community. Journals were more
likely to publish lengthy papers that represented the work of several
years, as reflected in the page ranges of many of the older citations in
this paper.
2.2. Disciplinary perceptions
Fig. 1 summarizes some important aspects of fluvial geomorphology
prior to 1960. Fluvial geomorphology arguably goes back to the late
eighteenth century recognition by James Hutton and John Playfair
(Playfair, 1802) that rivers could carve their own canyons if given suffi-
cient time. Louis Agassiz's (1840) glacial hypothesis initiated a world-
wide search for evidence of glacial modification of landscapes and
prompted questions regarding the relative ability of glaciers and rivers
to incise Earth's surface. Fluvial geomorphology really began to develop
during the latter part of the nineteenth century, however, with G.K.
Gilbert's work on equilibrium landscape development (Gilbert, 1877),
J.W. Powell's ideas of base level and antecedent versus superimposed
drainages (Powell, 1875), and W.M. Davis' Cycle of Erosion (Davis,
1899). Geomorphologists heeded T.C. Chamberlin's (1890) admonition
to develop multiple working hypotheses, and they used both field in-
vestigation and physical experiments (Gilbert, 1914) to test hypotheses.
Interpretations of past river conditions relied heavily on terraces, which
were interpreted in the context of past changes in base level or water
and sediment yield (Davis, 1902).
Papers related to river process and form continued to be published
during the first decades of the twentieth century (e.g., Davis, 1913), in-
cluding Bretz's (1923, 1925) controversial proposal that the Channeled
Scabland in the northwestern U.S. had been created by an enormous
outburst flood. In general, however, the first decades of the twentieth
 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282
straight/meandering/braided continuum (1957)
1950
stream gradient index (1957)
bankfulldischarge (1957)
Lane’s relation (1955)
paleohydrology (1954)
1940 hydraulic geometry (1953)
graded stream (1948)
drainage density (1945)
stream order (1945)
1930 hypsometric curves (1932)
floods (1923)
1920
underfitrivers (1913)
1910
Cycle of erosion (1899)
1900 multiple working hypotheses (1890)
equilibrium (1877)
antecedent/superimposed (1875)
baselevel (1875)
1890 terraces
physical experiments (flume)
1880
Fig. 1. Timeline of conceptual models, fluvial environments, and tools developed prior to 1960. Activity concentrates in two periods: the 1870s to the first decade of the twentieth century
and the 1930s to 1950s. Inset portrait photographs show some of the leading scientists during these periods.
century were a less productive period for river studies than the decades
immediately preceding and following.
Following a period of relative inactivity, research on rivers began to
accelerate during the 1930s–1950s as investigators developed geomor-
phic metrics such as stream order (Horton, 1945; Strahler, 1952a),
drainage density (Horton, 1945), stream gradient index (Hack, 1957),
and hypsometric curves (Horton, 1932; Strahler, 1952b). World War II
played an important role in facilitating the development of new tech-
nologies in cartography, aerial photography, and mechanized landscape
modification; and these technologies enhanced the ability to address
new questions regarding river process and form.
Conceptual models widely used during the 1930s–1950s included
the idea of a graded stream (Mackin, 1948), Lane's (1955) relation, hy-
draulic geometry (Leopold and Maddock, 1953), bankfull discharge as
an important flow magnitude (Wolman and Leopold, 1957), and a con-
tinuum among straight, meandering, and braided rivers that could be
quantified in terms of gradient and flow energy (Leopold and
Wolman, 1957). Shields' (1936) pioneering work on sediment entrain-
ment using a characteristic grain size led to entrainment and bedload
equations, and Rouse's (1937) work led to equations for suspended-
sediment concentration. A characteristic fining-upward sequence had
been described for meandering rivers (Dixon, 1921), although recogni-
tion of how widespread this type of sequence was grew with the work
of J.R.L. Allen during the 1960s (e.g., Allen, 1965). Measurements of
water and suspended sediment discharges revealed the nonlinearities
of hysteresis (Leopold and Maddock, 1953). Dendrochronology was
used to provide more precise chronologies than could be obtained
using relative dating techniques (Douglass, 1929).
To summarize fluvial geomorphology in 1960, investigators tended
to characterize river process and form using a framework defined by
physical principles believed to be universally applicable, as emphasized
in the influential 1964 Leopold et al. textbook Fluvial Processes in Geomor-
phology. This volume created a scientific agenda that can be traced to the
present, and two of the volume's authors – Leopold and Wolman –
broadly steered the development of fluvial geomorphology throughout
the remainder of the twentieth century.
The framework of physical principles can be summarized based on
several concepts. A graded stream represented adjustment to existing
265
hysteresis (1953)
Rouse equation (suspended sediment (1937)
single size fraction bedload equations (1937)
dendrochronology (1929)
meandering river floodplain facies
sediment delivery ratio
J.T. Hack
A.N. Strahler
R.E. Horton
J.W. Powell
W.M. Davis
G.K.Gilbert
conditions and a persistent, stable condition (Mackin, 1948). Uniform
energy expenditure provided a basis for interpreting fluvial adjustment
to downstream or temporal variations in substrate resistance or water
or sediment inputs (Langbein and Leopold, 1966). Underlying the
search for universal principles was the assumption that physical sys-
tems were deterministic, with linear or at least consistent discoverable
properties and causal relations. As Albert Einstein is famously supposed
to have remarked, ‘God does not play dice with the universe,’ a world-
view that seems directly related to the earlier, Victorian emphasis on ra-
tionality and improvement through systematic exploration and
understanding of first principles.
The emphasis on channel- and network-scale patterns such as hy-
draulic geometry (Leopold and Maddock, 1953) and on processes such
as geomorphic work (Wolman and Miller, 1960) likely reflected at
least four factors. First, techniques that could be used to develop Quater-
nary chronologies were very limited. Relative dating methods such as
stratigraphic position, lichenometry, and soil development were being
used, but absolute methods were largely limited to dendrochronology
(Stokes and Smiley, 1968) and to the relatively new radiocarbon dating
(Libby, 1955). Consequently, the ability to determine temporal relations
between external events and fluvial response was limited, as was the
ability to develop a history of fluvial changes. Second, the emphasis on
physical principles rather than history may have been a reaction against
earlier conceptual models, such as William Morris Davis' ‘Cycle of Ero-
sion’ (Davis, 1899), which emphasized historical development and tem-
poral sequences (Ritter, 1988; Orme, 2013). The Cycle of Erosion's
emphasis on a progression with time from a youthful, high-relief land-
scape to a mature and eventually old landscape was intuitively appeal-
ing and strongly influenced geomorphic thinking for decades. By 1960,
however, emphasis was shifting toward time-invariant processes rather
than historical development. Third, the prominence of quantitative and
experimentally based scientific disciplines such as physics, chemistry,
and molecular biology fostered a perception that a mature scientific dis-
cipline required mathematical characterization and prediction of pro-
cess and form (Leopold et al., 1964; Baker, 1988; Church, 2013).
Finally, the widespread availability of topographic maps after World
War II facilitated quantitative comparisons among discrete sites using
newly developed topographic metrics (Church, 2013). This exemplifies
266 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282
the manner in which newly available technology can strongly influence
the scientific questions being asked, analogous to the current emphasis
on research using digital elevation models and lidar data.
Fluvial geomorphologists during the two decades leading up to 1960
had begun to collaborate with civil engineers (Morisawa, 1985) and to
draw heavily on fundamental hydraulic engineering equations
(Strahler, 1992), such as those derived from work on sediment entrain-
ment (Shields, 1936), hydraulic roughness (Manning, 1891), and regime
theory of stable channel dimensions (Kennedy, 1894; Lacey, 1930).
These equations assumed conditions such as steady, uniform flow, a log-
arithmic velocity profile, and transport-limited sediment dynamics. Al-
though geomorphologists recognized that these were simplifying
assumptions when applied to natural channels, the assumptions did
not typically result in enormous problems when applied to the relatively
low gradient, sand-bed channels of moderate size that were the focus of
much geomorphic research.
2.3. Society, the environment, and science circa 2010
Approximately 307,745,500 people lived in the United States in
2010, creating an average population density of 33.8 per km2, or 37.9
per km2 excluding Alaska. This represents a 171% increase in population
density in the lower 48 states relative to 1960. An estimated 81% of peo-
ple in the U.S. lived in urban areas. Global population was ~6.9 billion, a
230% increase from 1960; and 50% of that population lived in urban
areas, as opposed to 30% in 1960. Domesticated land accounted for
~38% of the total ice-free area globally (Foley et al., 2011), although at
least 83% of Earth's ice-free land area was directly influenced by humans
(Sanderson et al., 2002).
The cumulative storage capacity behind dams in the United States
was ~1100 km3 (900 million ac-ft) (Graf, 1999), a 180% increase rela-
tive to 1960, representing a value just under mean annual runoff from
the United States. Only 2% of the length of U.S. river miles were unaffect-
ed by dams, and most of these unaffected river segments were in Alaska
(Graf, 2001).
Dams affected more than half (172 of 292) of the world's large river
systems (Nilsson et al., 2005). More than 45,000 dams over 15 m tall
existed (Nilsson et al., 2005), most of which had been built since 1960.
Cumulatively, these dams retained ~15% of total annual global river run-
off (Nilsson et al., 2005). Numerous overview and synthesis papers em-
phasized the role of humans in altering environments and fluxes on
Earth, including topography (Hooke et al., 2012), fluxes of terrestrial
sediment to the oceans (Syvitski et al., 2005), marine ecosystems
(Halpern et al., 2008), runoff to the oceans (Vörösmarty et al., 1997),
natural ecosystems (Scanlon et al., 2007), and nitrogen dynamics
(Boyer et al., 2006). Scientific recognition of the ubiquity and intensity
of human effects on Earth's environments influenced public perceptions
and governmental programs, which increasingly emphasized the
awareness of human alteration of natural systems and the consequent
need to protect and restore these systems (Wohl, 2011). Ready access
to space-based imagery and dissemination of composite images, such
as the distribution of lights at night as a reflection of population density
and resource use, enhanced the widespread perception of humanity as
an inexorable tide washing over Earth's surface.
Greater population density, greater proportion of urban population,
and many more dams meant that any individual was less likely to come
into contact with a relatively natural river. As children grew up knowing
only highly altered and engineered rivers, expectations and perceptions
of what constituted natural, healthy, or attractive rivers changed (Chin
et al., 2008), a phenomenon known as ‘shifting baseline syndrome’
(Pauly, 1995; Papworth et al., 2009). Spending most or all of your life in
an urban area likely makes you more comfortable with intensive environ-
mental engineering in the sense of expecting it and taking it for granted.
Climate warming, a global economic recession, growing scarcity of en-
ergy resources, and global overpopulation and attendant crowding in
urban areas were among the primary issues that people worried about.
Communications and the pace of everyday life had become markedly
faster relative to 1960. In high-income countries, most people took long
distance travel for granted. The 62 million passengers on commercial air
flights within the United States in 1960 had grown to 720 million com-
mercial air passengers by 2010, and the speed and ease of ground travel
by personal automobile had increased dramatically. Advances in portable
telephones and use of electronic media such as e-mail had rendered
worldwide communications essentially instantaneous. High-resolution
remote imagery of Earth's surface was easily available on personal com-
puters, tablets, and portable telephones. Small GPS units embedded in
phones, cars, and other devices allowed individuals to readily determine
the geographic coordinates of their location.
Outside of the high-income countries, universities increased in num-
ber. Many of these universities had programs within earth sciences or
engineering that included some form of fluvial geomorphology. In-
creased availability of electronic communications simplified submission
of research papers from countries distant from the traditional academic
publishing centers in North America and Europe, although new journals
were also rapidly established in countries such as China (e.g., Interna-
tional Journal of Sediment Research).
By the end of 2013, lidar had grown into a major tool for analyzing
terrestrial surfaces. The ubiquity of smart phones with diverse apps, so-
cial media such as Twitter and Instagram, online networks or communi-
ties accessed via Facebook, LinkedIn, or crowdsourcing, and tablets
meant that, at least for people in high-income countries, not being in
continuous and instant communication with other people required an
effort. Open Source publishing was just starting to change the nature
of peer-reviewed research papers at a time when the credibility of sci-
entific interpretations came under increasing public and political scruti-
ny. Fluvial geomorphologists were more likely than in the past to work
in a context strongly influenced by a regulatory framework, such as
river restoration designed to meet requirements of the Endangered
Species Act or Clean Water Act in the United States or the Water Frame-
work Directive in the European Union.
2.4. Disciplinary perceptions
Within fluvial geomorphology, emphasis on broadly applicable
physical principles and quantitative expressions continued in the form
of mathematical expressions of fluxes such as geomorphic transport
laws (Dietrich et al., 2003) and numerical simulations of river and drain-
age basin evolution. The expansion of geochronologic methods relative
to 1960 facilitated a return to research focused explicitly on rates and
the sequence of changes through geologic time. Quantification of pro-
cesses and rates highlighted the large-scale, long-term interactions
among climate, tectonics, and erosion and the role of rivers in landscape
evolution. In a sense, fluvial geomorphology returned to its roots in ad-
dressing questions similar to those addressed by Gilbert and Davis in the
nineteenth century, but with a new toolkit in the form of geochronolo-
gy, remote sensing, numerical simulation, and several decades of de-
tailed, small-scale investigation and quantification of hydraulics and
sediment dynamics.
Fluvial geomorphology as a discipline explicitly emphasized integra-
tion. The discipline was integrative through space, focusing on rivers in
the context of the critical zone, which supports life and represents the
intersection of atmosphere, water, soil, and ecosystems. The discipline
was integrative through time, focusing on river and drainage basin evo-
lution modeling over time spans of 103–106 years informed by parame-
terization of processes acting at much shorter time scales. And fluvial
geomorphology was integrative across disciplines, overlapping with
newly designated hybrids such as ecohydrology and zoo- or
biogeomorphology. This was reflected in the increasing tendency of flu-
vial geomorphologists to regard rivers as ecosystems rather than strictly
as ‘gutters down which flow the ruins of continents’ (Leopold et al.,
1964). The latter phrase, although evocative, emphasizes the role of
 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282
rivers in sediment transport rather than the numerous interactions be-
tween sediment fluxes and storage and biological communities.
Research in diverse geographic locations and types of channels re-
vealed that some of the fundamental assumptions of the 1960s regard-
ing hydraulics and sediment transport did not adequately describe
rivers with steep gradients, mixed grain sizes, erosionally resistant
boundaries, or highly variable flow regimes. New qualitative and quan-
titative conceptual models were proposed to describe flow resistance,
velocity distribution and turbulence, sediment entrainment, and other
factors. Many of these models incorporated some recognition of com-
plexity and nonlinear behavior.
An increasing proportion of fluvial geomorphic research occurred in
an applied context. Scientists sought to develop an understanding of riv-
ers as ecosystems to be managed for desired goals of preserving habitat
and species, maintaining water quality standards, and/or reducing haz-
ards. As societal and scientific awareness of human alteration of rivers
and the critical zone as a whole grew, an enormous amount of effort
was devoted to defining criteria by which the health or integrity of riv-
ers could be judged and to restoring riverine health and integrity.
Practitioners of fluvial geomorphology diversified to include a much
greater number of women. Female fluvial geomorphologists active in
research could probably be counted on the fingers of both hands in
1960, a situation unthinkable during the early twenty-first century. Flu-
vial geomorphic research papers were increasingly published by inves-
tigators residing outside the United States, the United Kingdom, and
western Europe, leading to greater geographic and racial diversity. Con-
tinuing the tradition present in 1960 of drawing on geology, geography,
and hydraulic engineering, individuals conducting fluvial geomorphic
research continued to come from diverse disciplinary backgrounds.
3. Decadal changes in fluvial geomorphology
In this section, I highlight some of the major changes that have oc-
curred within each decade since 1960 in terms of four aspects. First, I
highlight conceptual frameworks that governed how investigators
thought about rivers and the types of research questions being asked. I
use the phrase ‘conceptual model’ in the sense of Grant et al. (2013)
to mean a persistent set of ideas that usefully organizes thinking. Sec-
ond, I highlight types of fluvial features and environments targeted for
investigation. Third, I provide a basic timeline of techniques used for
data collection, analysis, and dissemination. Finally, I highlight journals
and textbooks in which research results and cumulative understanding
of rivers were published. Textbooks included in this list are those that
examine river channels and drainage basins as a whole and that are
single- or multi-authored rather than edited collections. Numerous
single-authored books examine specific types of rivers (e.g., Graf,
1988b; Wohl, 2000), and an enormous number of edited volumes ex-
amines diverse aspects of river form and process — but both of these
types of books are beyond the scope of this article.
The decadal scale organization provides a convenient, albeit arbi-
trary, organization. In many cases, an idea or technique for which I
cite a particular calendar year actually existed prior to that date. I have
tried to balance first published mention of something against the date
at which that idea or technique began to be widely accepted. Under con-
ceptual frameworks, for example, I cite geomorphic thresholds as 1973
(Fig. 2A) based on Schumm's (1973) articulation of the idea, although
Schumm acknowledged that the idea of thresholds predated his use of
the term (e.g., Chorley and Kennedy, 1971; Carson and Kirkby, 1972).
The timelines in Figs. 2 to 7 do not necessarily provide a rigorous chro-
nology of first-published citation, therefore, but instead reflect the
changing importance of particular ideas or tools. Tracing the develop-
ment of a particular line of research through all of the key papers is
also beyond the scope of this overview. Instead, I cite the primary initial
paper and, in some cases, mention subsequent work that grew out of
this early paper.
267
3.1. The 1960s: equilibrium, uniformity, and frequent flows
Fluvial geomorphology entered the 1960s with a suite of useful con-
ceptualizations of process and form in river networks (Fig. 1), but the
conceptual framework expanded significantly during this decade.
Fig. 2A lists some of the most important ideas in fluvial geomorphology
that grew to prominence during the 1960s, as well as some important
concepts from hydrology and geology that influenced how geomor-
phologists thought about river networks. The concepts are listed chro-
nologically in Fig. 2A, but they can also be categorized as models of
• the magnitude and frequency of flow that transports sediment and
shapes channel geometry (geomorphic work; bankfull, effective, and
dominant discharge);
• how the adjustment between available energy and channel geometry
is expressed through time and across space (open and closed systems;
equifinality; partitioning of flow resistance; random and stochastic
processes; quasi-equilibrium; dynamic equilibrium; dependent and
independent variables; uniform energy expenditure; upper and
lower regime bedforms; river metamorphosis);
• quantitative fluvial paleohydrology (underfit streams);
• how to quantify flow energy (stream power); and
• the effects of land use on river process and form.
Examination of the relative importance of flows with different mag-
nitudes and frequencies began with Wolman and Miller (1960). Noting
that infrequent events of extremely large magnitude were widely be-
lieved to be responsible for the greatest amount of sediment transport
and channel incision, Wolman and Miller systematically examined this
assumption using records of discharge and suspended sediment load
for rivers within the United States. They found that flows recurring at
least once every five years transported the great majority of suspended
sediment. This paper used the phrase ‘geomorphic work’ in the context
of suspended sediment transport and equated bankfull discharge to the
effective discharge that controlled the development of the floodplain.
Although Wolman and Miller noted that less frequent flows became
more important with increasing flow variability, the 1960 paper subse-
quently led to a restrictive view in which relatively frequent or bankfull
flows were by default assumed to be the most effective discharge or the
dominant discharge (Blench, 1951) that exerts the greatest influence on
channel geometry.
Several concepts introduced or more widely disseminated during
the 1960s related to some aspect of how adjustments between available
energy and channel geometry operated across diverse spatial and tem-
poral scales. Hack (1960) introduced the phrase ‘dynamic equilibrium,’
which he described as a condition in which ‘The landscape and the pro-
cesses molding it are considered a part of an open system in a steady
state of balance in which every slope and every form is adjusted to
every other’ (Hack, 1960, p. 81). Noting that this conceptual framework
echoed Gilbert's approach, Hack contrasted it with the evolutionary
changes envisioned by W.M. Davis. Similarly, Langbein and Leopold
(1964) proposed that quasi-equilibrium represented a condition inter-
mediate between the limits toward which a channel was driven by
the opposing tendencies of least work and equal distribution of work.
Langbein and Leopold (1966) expanded these ideas into a theory of
minimum variance by proposing that the hydraulic parameters within
a meander curve are adjusted so as to create the most uniform possible
distribution of bed stress and friction factor, a conceptual framework
that has been applied to many other aspects of rivers (e.g., Yang,
1976; Simon, 1992; Grant, 1997; Huang et al., 2004).
Ideas such as quasi-equilibrium, minimum variance, and uniform
energy expenditure subsequently came to be known as ‘extremal hy-
potheses.’ Extremal hypotheses characterize tendencies toward which
rivers evolve based on the balance between available energy and resis-
tance of the channel boundaries. Extremal hypotheses continue to be
proposed but have always been controversial because of the reliance
of early versions on a derivation from laminar flow hydraulics, the
268 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282

A
transient versus persistent forms (1979) geomorphic unit hydro graph
1980 lagor reaction time (1979) climate warming
sediment budget (1978) quantitative hillslope geomorphology (1971)
pools at 5-7X bankfull width (1978)
S.A. Schumm
geomorphic effectiveness (1978)
instream flow (1976)
effects of dams on rivers (1974)
thresholds (1973)
quantitative paleoflood hydrology (1973)
complex response (1973)
piping & sapping (1971)
velocity reversal (1971)
M.G. Wolman
river metamorphosis (1969) PMP,PMF
1970
land use effects on rivers (1967) variable source area
uppe r& lower regime bed forms (1966) plate tectonics
stream power (1966)
uniform energy expenditure (1966)
quantitative paleohydrology (1965)
dependent & independent variables (1965)
quasi-equilibrium (1964)
random & stochastic processes (1963)
equifinality (1962)
open & closed systems (1962)
resistance partitioning (1960)
dynamic equilibrium (1960)
1960 geomorphic work (bankfull, effective & dominant discharge; 1960)
L.B. Leopold

B
2010
steady-state & transient landscapes (2000) Anthropocene (2000)
physical integrity (2001) tectonic aneurysm (2001)
geomorphic transport laws (2003) critical zone (2001)
resilience fill & spill (hillslope hydrology) (2006)
sustainability hydrologic nonstationarity (2008)
legacy sediment (2004)

2000
river restoration (1990) ecosystem engineers (1994)
numerical landscape evolution models (1991) Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (1996)
quantification of turbulence (1991) environmental flows (1998)
optimal channel networks (1992)
wood-driven anastomosing (1993)
transport vs detachment limited (1994)
connectivity (river, sediment) (1997)
bedrock incision (tools & covermodel) (1998)
perirheic zone (1997)
process domains (1999)
1990
channel evolution models (1984) rivercontinuum concept (1980)
nonlinear behavior (1983) serial discontinuity concept (1983)
equal mobility (1982) old water paradox (1986)
paleoflood hydrology (1982) flood pulse concept (1989)
bimodal size fraction bedload equations (1980)
stream power law (1980)
censored/pavement/armour (1980)
1980

Fig. 2. Timeline of important conceptual models of fluvial form and process developed during succeeding decades, as well as relevant concepts in related fields such as hydrology and ecol-
ogy. (A) The 1960s and 1970s. Inset portrait photographs show some of the leading scientists during these decades. (B) The 1980s through the first decade of the twenty-first century.

apparent contradictions between predictions and observed river
characteristics (Davies and Sutherland, 1983), and the lack of attention
to how and under what constraints channel adjustment occurs
(Ferguson, 1986).
Although papers during the 1950s had referenced general system
theory, Chorley (1962) systematically examined the implications of
this theory for geomorphology. Von Bertalanffy (1950) distinguished
closed systems that possess clearly defined boundaries across which
no exchange of materials or energy occurs and open systems that are
maintained by a constant supply and removal of material and energy.
Chorley (1962) noted the similarities between a closed system and
Davis' Cycle of Erosion, and between an open system and Gilbert's con-
ceptualization of landscape equilibrium. Chorley (1962) also noted that
open systems are capable of equifinality because different initial condi-
tions can lead to similar end results. Schumm and Lichty (1965) ex-
plored how variables can be considered dependent or independent in
the context of river adjustment, depending on the time and space scales
being considered.
 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282 269

2010
channels on Titan (2013)
channels on Mercury (2011)
2000
tectonic effects (1998)
bedrock channels (1992)
Venusian channels (1991)
mountain rivers (1991)

1990
wandering rivers (1984) hyporheic zone (1988)
gravel-bed (1982) riparian zone
step-pool(1982)

1980
boreal rivers (1979)
braided river floodplain facies (1977)
instream wood (LWD) (1976)
tropical rivers (1975)
Martian channels (1973)

1970
particle clusters (1968)
anastomosing rivers (1968)
compound channels (1963)

1960
floodplains
terraces
deltas
dryland rivers

earlier

Fig. 3. Timeline of geographic environments and specific types of rivers or features within rivers that were a focus of fluvial geomorphic research. Inset photographs show, clockwise from the
bottom, an ephemeral channel in central Arizona, USA; a particle cluster along a gravel-bed river in the Yukon Territory of Canada; a large logjam on the Big Thompson River in Rocky Moun-
tain National Park, Colorado, USA; aufeis along the Kongakut River in the Brooks Range of Alaska, USA; a gravel-bed channel segment at the headwaters of the Colorado River in Rocky Moun-
tain National Park, Colorado, USA; a mountain river Colorado, USA; a bedrock slot canyon along Deer Creek in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA; and a tropical lowland stream in Costa Rica.

Leopold et al. (1960) differentiated several different sources of flow
resistance in sinuous, low-gradient channels — an approach that was
widely applied to steeper, coarse-grained channels starting in the
1980s (e.g., Parker and Peterson, 1980; Prestegaard, 1983; Hey, 1988).
Simons and Richardson (1966) examined the bed configuration of allu-
vial channels in field and flume conditions and designated lower flow
regime conditions with small bed-material discharge and large flow re-
sistance, and upper flow regime conditions with large bed-material dis-
charge and predominantly lower flow resistance.
Leopold and Miller (1954) first introduced the word paleohydrology,
but quantitative fluvial paleohydrology developed through the work of
several investigators during the 1960s. Dury (1965) used contemporary
relations between meander wavelength and bankfull discharge to infer
discharge for paleochannels. Schumm (1965) reviewed the aspects of
channel form, sediment transport, and drainage basin morphometry like-
ly to have changed during the Quaternary in response to climatic changes.
Schumm (1968a,b) made these inferences more explicitly in the context
of using paleochannel geometry to infer changes in discharge regime. Si-
multaneously, but independently, Kozarski (1962) and Starkel (1968) ini-
tiated fluvial paleohydrologic research in Poland, although their papers
were mostly in Polish and not readily available to scientists in western
Europe and North America.
Bagnold (1966) noted the lack of consensus regarding what flow pa-
rameter should be correlated with sediment transport rate and the ab-
sence of a widely applicable empirical formula for sediment transport.
Bagnold drew on general physics to propose the use of total and unit
stream power as measures of energy available for sediment transport.
Wolman's (1967a) pioneering study of how changes in land cover
within a catchment in Maryland influenced sediment yield and channel
geometry initiated research focusing on human effects on rivers, and
particularly on valley-bottom sedimentation and channel form (e.g.,
Trimble, 1970; Knox, 1972). In a related vein, Schumm (1969) intro-
duced the term ‘river metamorphosis’ to describe a complete transfor-
mation of river morphology as a consequence of changes in water and
sediment yield associated with river regulation.
Coming out of the 1960s, fluvial geomorphologists explicitly concep-
tualized rivers as
• open systems with continual exchange of matter and energy;
• having numerous interdependent variables that tended to adjust river
geometry to prevailing water and sediment yield in a manner that
minimized downstream variations in process and form, but that
could result in rapid and thorough change in form;
• systems within a landscape context, such that hillslopes and rivers mu-
tually adjust so that all topographic features erode at the same rate;
• systems in which relatively frequent (approximately annual) floods
transported most sediment; and
• systems in which contemporary process-form relations could be used
to infer magnitude and frequency of processes in the past based on rel-
ict form.
270 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282

2010 terrestrial & water-penetrating LIDAR (2008)

hyperspectral & passive optical remote sensing (2003)
2000
sediment finger printing (1995) DEMs
3d hydraulic models (1995) GPS
acoustic Doppler velocimeter (1993) & profiler (1995) online journals
photo-electronic bank erosion pins (1991) email
airborne LIDAR PowerPoint
laser diffraction for suspended sediment
1990 distributed hydrologic models
optically stimulated lumine scence (1985)
electromagnetic current meter (1983) GIS
shuttle imaging radar (1982) personal computers
Birkbeckbedload pits ampler (1980) electronic spread sheets & plots
ground penetrating radar 2d hydraulic models (1989)
laser theodolites cosmogenic nuclides (1986)
bedload tracers bedload sensors (1986)
1980 fallout radio nuclides (1978) hydrologic tracers (watershed)
Landsat satellite imagery (1972) General circulation models
thermoluminescence(1970) Universal Soil Loss Equation (1978)
vortex-tube bedload sampler (1970)
surrogate technologies for suspend sediment measurement
statistical software
1970
distributed hydrologicmodels (1969)
1d hydraulic model (1968)
Stanford watershed model (1962)
1960 air photos
14C dating
dendrochronology
suspended load sampling
bedload sampling
bank erosion pins
earlier

Fig. 4. Timeline of tools used in fluvial geomorphology.

2010
JGR – Earth Surface (2003)
Geography Compass (2007)
Nature Geoscience(2008)
2000

1990 Physical Geography (1980)

Hydrological Processes (1986)
Geomorphology (1987)
River Research & Applications (1987)
1980
Quaternary Research (1970)
Catena (1974)
Earth Surface Processes & Landforms (1976)
Progress in Physical Geography (1977)

1970
Journal of Hydrology (1963)
JAm Water Resources Association (1965)
Water Resources Research (1965)
J Hydrology (1963)
1960 AGU Transactions Geology
Am J Science Journal of Geology
Annals Assoc Am Geographers Nature
ASCE J Hydraulics Division Professional Geographer
Geografiska Annaler Science
Geographical Review Transactions Royal Society
Geological Society America Bulletin Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie
earlier

Fig. 5. Timeline of journals in which fluvial geomorphic research is published. Inset images show selected journal covers. Bold text indicates journals devoted primarily to geomorphology.
 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282 271

2010
Earth & Planetary Surface Processes Focus Group of AGU
established 2008
currently 725 members of 60,000 in AGU (~1%)
European Geosciences Union (including Geomorphology Division)
2000 established 2002

Hydrology Section of Canadian Geophysical Union

established 1993
1990 International Association of Geomorphologists
established 1989
Hydrology Section of American Geophysical Union (AGU)
established 1983
currently 7000 members of 60,000 in AGU (~12%)
Geomorphology Specialty Group of AAG
established 1980
currently 286 members of 10,544 in AAG (~3%)
1980

1970

1960
Quaternary Geology & Geomorphology Division of GSA
established 1955
currently 1425 members of 25,000 in GSA (~6%)
earlier

Fig. 6. Timeline of selected professional societies and specialty groups to which fluvial geomorphologists belong. Inset images show society logos.

An idea growing out of the 1960s that became increasingly impor-
tant was recognition of the stochastic or random nature of river behav-
ior (Leopold and Langbein, 1963), which implies an irreducible
uncertainty in ability to infer cause and effect or trends in process and
form through time and across space.
With respect to fluvial features and environments (Fig. 3), research
during the 1960s continued to emphasize rivers of humid and dryland
temperate regions, particularly lower gradient (b 1%) channels with
predominantly sand beds. Detailed investigations of the contemporary
processes and depositional record associated with floodplains

Rivers in the Landscape (Wohl,2014)

Geomorphic Analysis of River Systems (Fryirs & Brierley, 2012)
2010
Fundamentals of Fluvial Geomorphology (Charlton, 2007)
Geomorphology & River Management (Brierley & Friyirs, 2005)
Rivers: Form & Process in Alluvial Channels (Richards, 2004)
River Processes (Robert, 2003)
Rivers & Floodplains (Bridge, 2003)

2000
Fluvial Forms & Processes:
A New Perspective (Knighton,1998)
A View of the Rive r(Leopold, 1994)

1990 Experimental Fluvial Geomorphology (Schumm et al., 1987)

Rivers (Morisawa, 1985)
Rivers & Landscape (Petts & Foster, 1985)
Fluvial Forms & Processes (Knighton, 1984)
Rivers (Petts, 1983)
Rivers (Richards, 1982)
1980
River Channels (Thornes, 1979)
Water in Environmental Planning (Dunne & Leopold, 1978)
The Fluvial System (Schumm, 1977)
Drainage Basin Form & Process (Gregory & Walling, 1973)
1970
Streams: Their Dynamics & Morphology (Morisawa, 1968)
Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology (Leopold et al., 1964)

1960

earlier

Fig. 7. Timeline of selected fluvial geomorphology textbooks. Inset images show textbook covers (Morisawa, 1968; Gregory and Walling, 1973; Thornes, 1979; Petts, 1983; Petts and Foster,
1985; Schumm et al., 1987; Knighton, 1998; Richards, 2004; Charlton, 2007; Fryirs and Brierley, 2012).
272 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282
(Wolman and Leopold, 1957), deltas (Gilbert, 1885), and terraces
(Mackin, 1937) predated the 1960s and continued during the 1960s.
The early papers were so thorough, clearly written, and compelling
that they created the expectation that most floodplains would be dom-
inated by lateral accretion deposits (Wolman and Leopold, 1957), for
example, and that most deltas would have the topset, foreset, and
bottomset beds associated with river water entering a body of standing
water with similar density (Gilbert, 1885). Numerous case studies that
differed from these early models had to accumulate over a period of de-
cades before fluvial geomorphologists accepted that rivers that did not
correspond to the early models were not simply aberrations.
Dal Cin (1968) conducted the first systematic study of clusters of
coarse particles creating microforms (Fig. 3), although research on
these features became much more common during the 1980s and
later (e.g., Brayshaw, 1984; Church et al., 1998; Papanicolaou et al.,
2003). Anastomosing rivers were explicitly recognized as a distinct
form of multi-thread channels that differed from braided rivers
(Schumm, 1968a). Fahnestock (1963) did not use the term compound
channel, but he described a proglacial stream that alternated through
time between meandering and braided as a function of changes in
water and sediment yield from the upstream glacier. This type of chan-
nel planform was subsequently named a compound channel (Graf,
1988a) and described in other environments (e.g., Nanson et al., 1986;
Gupta and Dutt, 1989).
Among the tools developed prior to the 1960s (Fig. 4), radiocarbon
dating began to be much more widely used to develop chronologies of
fluvial stratigraphy during the 1960s. With respect to tools developed
during the 1960s, the Stanford Watershed model was the first compre-
hensive watershed model, with components for infiltration, runoff, and
stream flow (Crawford and Lindsley, 1962). Although distributed hy-
drologic models were not developed until later, Freeze and Harlan
(1969) outlined the basis for such models. The one-dimensional, step-
backwater hydraulic model HEC-2 was released in 1968, although its
subsequent adaptation to a microcomputer (PC) environment in 1984
greatly facilitated its use by fluvial geomorphologists (USACE, 1990).
Many general geology, geography, and engineering journals have
been an important outlet for fluvial geomorphic research papers since
the founding of the journal. A large number of peer-reviewed journals
that published fluvial geomorphic research papers existed prior to
1960 (Fig. 5), including two (Geografiska Annaler, Zeitschrift für
Geomorphologie) devoted primarily to geomorphology. The list expand-
ed during the 1960s to include two high-impact journals (Water Re-
sources Research, Journal of Hydrology) that cover a broad range of
hydrologic research.
Among the major professional societies to which fluvial geomor-
phologists belonged, only the Geological Society of America had a divi-
sion focused on geomorphology (Fig. 6). This did not change during the
1960s.
Of particular importance during this decade was the 1964 publica-
tion of Leopold et al.'s textbook, Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology
(Fig. 7). This enormously influential textbook concisely summarized
the state of the discipline at that time, helping to distinguish fluvial geo-
morphology as a discrete area of geomorphic research with fundamen-
tal, quantitative principles and a conceptual framework rooted in
physical sciences and hydraulic engineering practice. The book was so
clearly written and well organized that it set the course of fluvial geo-
morphic research for future decades, and it remains a useful text half a
century after its publication. During this period, U.S. Geological Survey
Professional Papers also became a major publication outlet for funda-
mental fluvial geomorphic work under the leadership of Leopold, who
was Chief Hydrologist of the Survey.
3.2. The 1970s: complexity and uncertainty
The decade of the 1970s was another period of substantial additions
to the conceptual understanding of river process and form (Fig. 2A). The
concepts listed in Fig. 2A can be categorized as continuing development
of ideas from the 1960s, including
• the magnitude and frequency of flows that shape rivers (geomorphic
effectiveness);
• adjustments of energy and river form through time and space (thresh-
olds, lag or reaction time, transient or persistent forms, complex re-
sponse); and
• effects of land use on rivers (dams).
Examination of the magnitude and frequency of flows that shape riv-
ers expanded to focus on channel geometry (Wolman and Gerson,
1978). Conceptualizations of adjustments between energy and river
form through time and space emphasized complexity in terms of abrupt
change as thresholds are crossed (Schumm, 1973). Numerous subse-
quent papers built on and expanded these ideas: Bull (1979), for exam-
ple, proposed a threshold of critical stream power to distinguish
conditions under which streams erode versus aggrade. Conceptualiza-
tions of river adjustments also explicitly recognized the complexities in-
troduced by delays between change in external variables and response of
the river system (Brunsden and Thornes, 1979), the ability of some as-
pects of river form to persist longer than others (Brunsden and
Thornes, 1979), and lack of synchroneity in channel change along a
river or throughout a network (Schumm and Parker, 1973). Recognition
of these complicating factors made it more difficult to assess whether
extremal hypotheses such as quasi-equilibrium and uniform energy ex-
penditure accurately describe river adjustments.
Wolman (1967b) was a pioneering study of the effects of dams on
channel process and form. Attention to the effects of dams on rivers ex-
panded primarily during the 1970s and early 1980s (Gregory and Park,
1974; Petts, 1979; Williams and Wolman, 1984) and continues as a
major focus at present.
New conceptual developments during the 1970s also included
• quantitative paleoflood hydrology,
• models of pool-riffle channels (velocity reversal, pool spacing),
• sediment budgets,
• quantifying linkages between hillslopes and channels with respect to
water and sediment,
• channel initiation, and
• instream flows.
Use of one-dimensional hydraulic models and increasing application
of radiocarbon dating facilitated the development of quantitative
paleoflood hydrology (Baker, 1973). Although the phrase ‘paleoflood
hydrology’ was not used for another decade, the basic field approach
and hydraulic modeling techniques were pioneered during the 1970s.
Investigators began to pay more attention to channels with substrate
coarser than sand-sized sediment. Systematic study of pool-riffle se-
quences led to models of velocity reversal (Keller, 1971) and consistent
spacing of pools in relation to channel width (Keller and Melhorn,
1978). These models were subsequently widely applied in river restora-
tion during the 1990s and the start of the twenty-first century.
Although earlier papers had examined sources and spatial patterns
of sediment within drainage basins, Dietrich and Dunne (1978) pub-
lished the first quantitative examination of basinwide sediment pat-
terns that was explicitly called a sediment budget. Use of the sediment
budget framework was subsequently applied in resource management
contexts and enhanced by development of new techniques for remote
sensing, geochronology, and sediment tracing.
Studies of hillslope process and form emphasized equations that
could be used to quantify linkages between slopes and channels (e.g.,
Kirkby, 1971; Carson and Kirkby, 1972). Conceptual models of channel
initiation gave more attention to subsurface processes (Jones, 1971),
rather than focusing primarily on surface runoff and erosion.
In the context of applied fluvial geomorphology, fish biologists
began to quantify the minimum discharge that must be retained within
a channel to sustain individual fish species (Tennant, 1976). This
 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282
emphasis grew out of the changing sociopolitical context and reflected
legislation such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.
Coming out of the 1970s, fluvial geomorphologists explicitly concep-
tualized rivers as complex systems with nonlinear behavior and emer-
gent processes, although the latter two terms would not come into
widespread use until much later. Increasing emphasis was placed on
the random and stochastic processes, the existence of internal thresh-
olds, and the limits to predicting fluvial adjustments through time and
space.
Field studies of rivers expanded beyond the temperate zone to en-
compass tropical (Gupta, 1975; Holz et al., 1979) and boreal (Smith,
1979) rivers. Although individual studies had addressed rivers at high
and low latitudes prior to the 1970s, a greater number of case studies
from these regions increasingly indicated significant differences in
river process and form between these environments and the temperate
latitudes. Miall (1977) described characteristic floodplain facies for
braided rivers, analogous to the existing fining-upward facies and later-
al transitions that were well characterized for meandering rivers. Milton
(1973) and Baker and Milton (1974) drew on a rapidly expanding array
of imagery for Mars and initiated the systematic, quantitative examina-
tion of potential fluvial features on other planets.
Perhaps most importantly, in terms of volume of subsequent re-
search and fluvial geomorphology applied in contexts such as river res-
toration, geomorphologists began to appreciate the physical and
ecological roles of instream wood (LWD, or large woody debris) during
the 1970s (Swanson et al., 1976). For the next decade, fluvial geomor-
phic studies of instream wood were dominated by field research in
the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Canada's British Columbia; but during
the 1990s, investigators began to document interactions between
wood and river process and form across a much broader geographic
range.
Of particular importance during the 1970s was the expansion of the
tools available to fluvial geomorphologists (Fig. 4). The first bedload pit
trap was installed on a stream much earlier (Einstein, 1944), but
vortex-tube bedload traps (Klingeman and Milhous, 1970) improved
the ability to use this approach for measuring bedload in a field setting.
Surrogate technologies for measuring suspended sediment, including
acoustic and optical backscattering, were developed during the late
1970s (Gray and Gartner, 2009). The launch of Landsat I in 1972 repre-
sented the first continuously acquired collection of space-based land re-
mote sensing data of terrestrial environments. The Universal Soil Loss
Equation (Wischmeier and Smith, 1978), although developed to esti-
mate erosion specifically on crop lands, provided a new tool to estimate
sediment supply from uplands. Radionuclides such as 137Cs created by
atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons began to be used as chronologic
indicators in recent sediment sequences. This expanded available geo-
chronologic techniques and provided more precise dates for sediments
younger than A.D. 1954 (Appleby and Oldfield, 1978). Hydrologic tracers
were employed to understand upland-channel and surface–subsurface
connectivity. General circulation models were developed to numerically
simulate atmospheric processes and climate. Rapid development of per-
sonal computers enhanced the creation and use of computer-based sta-
tistical analyses and hydraulic simulations.
Innovations in remote imagery, geochronology, and computational
power during the 1970s are worth emphasizing. These developments
started fluvial geomorphology down a path that Baker (1988) charac-
terized as a conflict between problem-oriented studies and method-
oriented studies. Problem-oriented studies focus on landform genesis
and the identification and explanation of anomalies that can bring into
question the accepted understanding of the feature under investigation.
Method-oriented studies emphasize useful predictions, but the choice
of appropriate research problems may be driven by methods (Baker,
1988). On balance, however, the rapid technological innovations that
began in the 1970s and continue today broadened the research horizon
for fluvial geomorphologists by allowing them to pose hypotheses that
could not have been directly tested prior to this time.
273
Establishment of several new journals during the 1970s expanded
publishing choices for fluvial geomorphologists, with two of these
journals focusing on geomorphology (Fig. 5). Earth Surface Processes
and Landforms (British Geomorphological Research Group) and the
Journal of the American Water Resources Association reflected the con-
tinuing tendency of professional societies in establishing their own
journals, as the Royal Society of London, the Geological Society of
America, the Association of American Geographers, the American Geo-
physical Union, and the American Society of Civil Engineers had done
prior to 1960.
Four new fluvial geomorphology textbooks were published (Fig. 7).
The 1977 publication of Schumm's The Fluvial System marked the advent
of another highly influential fluvial geomorphology textbook that con-
tinues to provide a useful conceptual framework for understanding dif-
ferentiation of process and form across the scale of an entire watershed.
Dunne and Leopold (1978) represents an applied fluvial geomorpholo-
gy textbook that continues to be widely used for understanding the im-
portance of river form and process in the context of environmental
planning.
3.3. The 1980s: gravel-bed channels and bedload dynamics
Conceptualization developed during the 1980s tended to focus more
on specific river processes and forms rather than universally applicable
rules (Fig. 2B). Among the major research foci and important new de-
velopments were
• study of rivers with mixed grain size distributions,
• channel evolution models,
• paleoflood hydrology, and
• the stream power model of bedrock channel incision.
Some of this emphasis reflected an increasing tendency to view riv-
ers as ecosystems rather than strictly physical systems. Also important
was the growing need to understand the effects of past river engineer-
ing, to mitigate the negative consequences of dams and flow regulation,
and to manage rivers in the context of legislation such as the Clean
Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental
Policy Act.
As investigators devoted more energy to rivers with mixed grain size
distributions, equations for bimodal grain size bedload transport were
developed (Bagnold, 1980). Numerous papers debated the merits of
equal mobility (Parker and Klingeman, 1982; Parker et al., 1982) and se-
lective entrainment as competing but not necessarily mutually exclu-
sive models for sediment entrainment in coarse-grained channels.
Investigators also proposed diverse mechanisms for creating the coarse
surface layer widely observed in gravel-bed channels (Bray and Church,
1980).
In applied fluvial geomorphology, Schumm et al. (1984) developed
the first channel evolution model to characterize stages in the incision
and stabilization of gullies or arroyos. Several subsequent iterations of
this model were proposed (Simon and Rinaldi, 2013), but the basic ap-
proach remained relatively similar and widely used in river
management.
Kochel and Baker (1982) introduced the term ‘paleoflood hydrology’
to describe hydraulic modeling of discrete events based on geomorphic
and sedimentary records. This gave rise to an extensive literature fo-
cused on reconstructing the history of large floods on individual rivers
and on applying this information to flood-frequency analysis (Blainey
et al., 2002; England et al., 2003), inferring paleoclimatic changes (Ely
et al., 1993) and the role of floods in channel adjustment (Wohl, 2002).
Howard's (1980) stream power model of bedrock channel incision
provided a mathematically simple equation that gave rise during subse-
quent decades to many field investigations and numerical models of
bedrock channel incision and landscape evolution. Application of the
model focused investigations on the conditions under which the longi-
tudinal profile lowers relatively uniformly versus via knickpoint erosion
274 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282
(e.g., Stock and Montgomery, 1999); encouraged identification of the
spatial domains within which abrasion, knickpoint recession, and
nonfluvial erosion (e.g., debris flows) dominate channel adjustment
(e.g., Stock and Dietrich, 2006); drove quantification of different mech-
anisms of fluvial erosion of bedrock (e.g., Whipple et al., 2000a,b), and
led to several competing models that emphasized either transport-
limited or detachment-limited erosion (e.g., Tomkin et al., 2003).
Thornes (1983) explored the long-term behavior of landforms in the
context of dynamical system theory, including nonlinear and complex
systems. This theme was later taken up more widely (e.g., Phillips,
1992).
Hydrologists realized that water could be held in subsurface upland
environments for a substantial period of time before being released as
surface or subsurface runoff into channels during periods of precipita-
tion (Sklash et al., 1986). River ecologists proposed that longitudinal
patterns of physical conditions resulted in predictable biological fea-
tures of river ecosystems (Vannote et al., 1980), and then refined this
river continuum concept to include impoundments as major disrup-
tions of longitudinal gradients — the serial discontinuity concept
(Ward and Stanford, 1983). River ecologists also began to emphasize
the importance of periodic, sustained lateral connectivity between
channels and floodplains — the flood-pulse concept (Junk et al., 1989),
which was subsequently expanded to include lesser fluctuations in dis-
charge (Tockner et al., 2000).
Attention to channels with coarser grains and steeper gradients than
sand-bed channels expanded dramatically during the 1980s (Fig. 3).
This was reflected in the initiation of the gravel-bed river volumes, mas-
sive edited collections of papers published every five years following a
gravel-bed river conference (Hey et al., 1982). Although step-pool se-
quences had been mentioned in papers from the 1960s and 1970s,
much more attention was devoted to steps and pools during the
1980s (Whittaker and Jaeggi, 1982). Work done primarily in New
Zealand and Canada led to recognition of wandering rivers as a distinct
channel planform (Carson, 1984). The concept of a hyporheic zone had
been developed much earlier, but Stanford and Ward's (1988) paper
that outlined the spatial extent and ecological importance of the
hyporheic zone initiated a much more intensive research focus on this
portion of a river ecosystem. Papers discussing the influence of riparian
vegetation on bank characteristics, flow resistance, and channel form
had been published in previous decades (e.g., Hadley, 1961). However,
recognition of the riparian zone as a distinct environment that strongly
influenced fluxes into channels, process and form within channels, and
habitat and biological communities in riverine environments grew rap-
idly during the 1980s (Swanson et al., 1982). Studies of fluvial features
on Mars expanded as the imagery available for the planet improved
after 1976 (e.g., Baker, 1982; Mars Channel Working Group, 1983).
Important new tools became more readily available and widely used
(Fig. 4), including continued expansion of remote imagery. Access to
satellite-based imagery and to information obtained using shallow geo-
physical techniques dramatically expanded the ability to examine sur-
face and near-surface environments, as did commercial availability of
laser theodolites for field surveys. The shuttle imaging radar carried
on the space shuttle Columbia in 1981, for example, revealed the exis-
tence of previously unknown buried valleys and stream networks be-
neath the Selima Sand Sheet of the eastern Sahara (McCauley et al.,
1982). Although ground penetrating radar (GPR) was first used in geo-
logical field work in the late 1920s, it was not until the 1980s that com-
mercially produced GPR systems became more available and portable,
facilitating their use in fluvial geomorphology (Moorman, 2001).
Development of luminescence dating made it possible to date fluvial
sediments older than A.D. 1954 that did not contain organic matter.
Thermoluminescence was developed during the 1970s (Wintle, 1980)
but began to be more widely applied in fluvial studies during the
1980s. Optically stimulated luminescence techniques began to be used
in 1985 (Huntley et al., 1985). Development of a suite of techniques
using cosmogenic nuclides, including 36Cl, 3He, 21Ne, 26Al, and 10Be,
substantially expanded the ability to date diverse geomorphic features,
including fluvially eroded bedrock surfaces and coarse- and fine-
grained fluvial deposits (Nishiizumi et al., 1986).
One-dimensional electromagnetic current meters were developed
in 1983. Early two-dimensional hydraulic models first became available
during the 1980s (Froehlich, 1989), and this facilitated the ability to
measure turbulent fluctuations and to understand coherent flow struc-
tures and the resistance generated by different scales of boundary
roughness. Development of the Birkbeck pit sampler (Reid et al.,
1980) made it possible to continuously measure bedload at several loca-
tions within a cross section, facilitating understanding of spatial and
temporal discontinuities in bedload dynamics. Early piezoelectric im-
pact sensors (Rickenmann et al., in press) and geophones (Thorne,
1986) were deployed as bedload sensors. Use of painted clasts as
bedload tracers dates to work in the 1930s, but the types of tracers ex-
panded substantially during the 1980s to include radios and natural
and inserted magnets (Hassan and Ergenzinger, 2003).
The technology that most dramatically changed the everyday prac-
tice of fluvial geomorphic research was the ability to have a personal
computer on your desktop. Personal computers made it feasible to run
simple numerical models, to store and manipulate data in electronic
spreadsheets and in GIS software platforms for the spatial representa-
tion of data, and to run statistical software. The GIS and digital elevation
models, and the ability to manipulate data in a desktop-computer, facil-
itated broad-scale spatial assessment of river systems. These trends
later gave rise to landscape evolution modeling. On a more mundane
level, personal computers greatly facilitated the reporting of research
results: documents could be easily edited and copied with word pro-
cessing software, and line drawings and graphical representations of
data could be readily created and inserted into text documents.
Peer-reviewed scientific journals relevant to fluvial geomorphology
continued to proliferate in number, including two new journals focused
on geomorphology (Geomorphology, Physical Geography) (Fig. 5).
Within major professional societies, new subgroups that included
fluvial geomorphologists were established for the Association of
American Geographers and the American Geophysical Union (Fig. 6).
The International Association of Geomorphologists was established in
1989.
The number of fluvial textbooks expanded greatly (Fig. 7), with two
of the primary texts coming from outside the United States (Richards,
1982; Knighton, 1984). One noticeable trend among comprehensive
fluvial texts published during the 1980s was an increasing emphasis
on river management and applied understanding of rivers.
3.4. The 1990s: river restoration and landscape evolution
Conceptual models developed during the 1990s (Fig. 2B) can be cat-
egorized as describing
• the distribution of energy and resulting river form (optimal channel
networks),
• landscape evolution,
• river restoration and environmental flows,
• connectivity, and
• spatial differentiation within river networks (process domains).
Conceptual models describing the distribution of energy and
resulting river form continued to be developed. In the 1990s these
extremal hypotheses included optimal channel networks that reflect a
balance between minimum and equal energy expenditure throughout
the network (Rodríguez-Iturbe et al., 1992). As with earlier extremal
hypotheses, these models led to numerous studies evaluating the extent
to which individual channel networks achieved optimality (e.g., Ibbitt,
1997; Gaucherel et al., 2011).
Some of the first explicitly numerical simulations of landscape evo-
lution as driven by channel incision were published during the 1990s
(Willgoose et al., 1991; Howard, 1994). The conceptual framework
 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282
underlying these simulations is grounded in work published during the
1970s and 1980s (e.g., Carson and Kirkby, 1972; Howard, 1980), but the
continued advance of computational power in desktop computers facil-
itated more widespread application and testing of landscape evolution
models.
Continued emphasis on coarse-grained channels with steeper bed
gradients (Fig. 3) led to quantification of different forms of turbulence
and associated distribution of velocity and shear stress. Although earlier
investigators recognized the importance of understanding turbulence in
natural channels (e.g., Jackson, 1976), characterization and quantifica-
tion of turbulence increased substantially during the 1990s (e.g.,
Kostaschuk et al., 1991), facilitated by continued development of hy-
draulic instrumentation and computational power of personal
computers.
Investigation of channels formed predominantly in bedrock rather
than alluvium increasingly indicated that standard models of sediment
dynamics and channel-boundary change did not adequately describe
these resistant-boundary channels, leading to the distinction between
transport- and detachment-limited systems (Howard, 1994). Among
the important ideas proposed relative to bedrock channel incision was
the tools-cover model for incision by abrasion (Sklar and Dietrich,
1998). This model proposes that incision rates reach a maximum at in-
termediate levels of coarse sediment supply because of the need for suf-
ficient tools to abrade the bedrock and the tendency of excess sediment
to accumulate and protect the bed from erosion. Subsequent papers
elaborated on and tested in this idea in physical experiments and natu-
ral channels (Sklar and Dietrich, 2001, 2006; Lamb et al., 2008; Johnson
et al., 2009).
Earlier ideas of spatial differentiation of predominant processes
within drainage basins (e.g., Schumm, 1977) led to the concept of geo-
morphic process domains (Montgomery, 1999) as spatially identifiable
areas of a landscape or drainage basin characterized by distinct suites of
geomorphic processes that could be designated from the reach scale of
tens of meters to much larger spatial extents. Mertes (1997) coined
the phrase perirheic zone to describe the longitudinal zone of mixing
surrounding flowing river water on a floodplain. Continued emphasis
on the geomorphic effects of instream wood led to recognition that log-
jams could force a stable, multi-thread channel pattern (Harwood and
Brown, 1993), a recognition subsequently extended back through geo-
logic time (Davies and Gibling, 2011).
Although the idea of connectivity dates to at least the 1970s
(Brunsden and Thornes, 1979), more papers began to explicitly describe
different forms of connectivity applicable to river systems, including riv-
erine connectivity (water-mediated fluxes within the channel network;
Ward, 1997), sediment connectivity (the movement, or storage, of sed-
iment down hillslopes, into channels, or along channel networks;
Harvey, 1997), and hydrological connectivity (the water-mediated
transfer of matter, energy, and/or organisms within or between ele-
ments of the hydrologic cycle; Pringle, 2003). Connectivity can have
many forms – hydrologic, riverine, sediment, landscape, biological,
structural, functional, and so forth – but the important components
are the magnitude, duration and extent of connectivity (Wohl, 2014).
In the context of applied fluvial geomorphology, river restoration or
rehabilitation grew into a billion dollar industry in the United States
(Bernhardt et al., 2005). Some of the geomorphic techniques used in
river restoration have been in existence for more than a century
(Thompson, 2013), and ecologists have been investigating river restora-
tion since the 1970s. The geomorphic community did not become ex-
tensively involved until the 1990s, however, as river restoration was
widely applied across North America (Osborne et al., 1993; Kondolf
and Larson, 1995) and in other high-income regions such as the U.K.
(Brookes, 1990) and western Europe (Tockner et al., 1998). The 1970s
concept of instream flow as a minimum base flow needed to provide
habitat gradually expanded into the concept of a channel maintenance
flow needed to sustain distinct habitat features such as pool volume,
and then into environmental flows, defined as the proportion of a river's
275
natural flow regime (Poff et al., 1997) necessary to maintain specific,
valued features of the river ecosystem (Tharme and King, 1998). Ap-
proaches for quantifying changes in flow regime developed during the
1990s include the now widely used ‘indicators of hydrologic alteration’
(Richter et al., 1996).
Ecologists began to use the phrase ‘ecosystem engineers’ to describe
plants or animals that modify the environment and create habitat for
other organisms (Jones et al., 1994). Beavers (Castor fiber, Castor
canadensis) (Wright et al., 2002) and some species of woody riparian
vegetation (Gurnell and Petts, 2002) were recognized as ecosystem en-
gineers within river environments.
Among the fluvial environments receiving increased attention during
the 1990s were bedrock rivers, mountain rivers, and fluvial forms on
other planets. As more research focused on resistant-boundary channels
(Fig. 3), interactions between rivers and tectonics were characterized
using spatial variations in river longitudinal profile and channel width
(Pazzaglia et al., 1998). Investigators came to view bedrock channel inci-
sion as the primary factor limiting landscape adjustment to base level
change (Seidl and Dietrich, 1992), and a large number of papers focused
on testing the conditions under which Howard's (1980) stream-power
law did and did not adequately describe the development of longitudinal
profiles and bedrock incision. Research on the hydraulics, sediment dy-
namics and channel forms of high gradient rivers in mountainous envi-
ronments increased in abundance and variety (Armanini and Di Silvio,
1991). Recognition of fluvial features on other planetary surfaces extend-
ed to Venus (Saunders and Pettengill, 1991), although water does not ap-
pear to be the primary fluid creating these channels.
Among the most important new tools to become available during
the 1990s were DEMs (digital elevation models) and readily portable
GPS (global positioning system) units. Together, these greatly improved
the ability to create and manipulate detailed imagery of Earth's surface,
resulting in opportunities to detect features not previously recognized.
The DEMs, in particular, facilitated research on landscape-scale fluvial
geomorphology, such as spatial patterns in river gradient, drainage den-
sity, or knickpoint distribution, particularly in relation to spatial distri-
bution of topography or uplift rates.
Velocity meters prior to the 1990s had largely been propeller devices
or electromagnetic current meters that recorded velocity in one dimen-
sion, but during the 1990s acoustic Doppler velocimeters (ADV) and
acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) became more readily avail-
able to individual investigators, greatly facilitating the ability to obtain
instantaneous, spatially and temporally detailed, three-dimensional ve-
locity data. The ability to measure velocity and turbulent fluctuations in
greater detail led to intensified investigation of the dynamics of
bedforms – and particularly the interactions between hydraulic forces,
sediment transport, and channel-boundary deformation – in sand-bed
(Nelson et al., 1993; Bennett and Best, 1995) and gravel-bed (Furbish,
1993; Clifford, 1996; Dinehart, 1999) channels. Application of three-
dimensional hydraulic models of flow in rivers began during this period
(Mayerle et al., 1995). Laser diffraction instruments were developed to
measure suspended sediment (Gray and Gartner, 2009).
Development of automated bank erosion pins using photovoltaic
cells and dataloggers (Lawler, 1991) enhanced the ability to document
rates of bank erosion and to tie changes in banks to water and sediment
discharges. Expanding use of sediment budgets was fostered by recogni-
tion of distinctive geochemical or grain size characteristics that could be
used to pinpoint sediment sources, an approach that became known as
sediment fingerprinting (Walling and Woodward, 1995). This facilitated
the recognition that a relatively small proportion of total catchment area
is disproportionately important in producing sediment in many drainage
basins (e.g., Meade, 2007; Warrick and Mertes, 2009).
Communications within the scientific community were facilitated
by the start of online journals that could be quickly published and re-
motely accessed. The first citation index for scientific papers published
in academic journals had been introduced in 1960, but citation indexing
did not become automated until the late 1990s. This development
276 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282
facilitated use of citation indices and impact factors as a measure of the
quality of a journal and the productivity of an individual.
The increasingly widespread use of personal e-mail enormously in-
fluenced the ability of individuals to communicate nearly instanta-
neously across continents and hemispheres and to exchange large
attachments such as images, data sets, and publications (Fig. 4). Use of
35-mm slides or overhead transparencies during research presentations
was replaced by slides and posters created in software programs such as
Microsoft's PowerPoint. This made development and editing of mate-
rials much easier, faster, and cheaper and led to presentations continu-
ing to be available online long after the actual lecture.
Within professional societies, a hydrology section was established
within the Canadian Geophysical Union (CGU had been established in
1974) (Fig. 6). The only completely new fluvial textbook published dur-
ing the 1990s was Leopold's (1994) summation of a lifetime of river in-
vestigations, A View of the River (Fig. 7). Accessible to readers with some
specialized training in fluvial geomorphology and to novices, the book
aptly summarized the preceding few decades in river studies.
Knighton's, 1984 fluvial text was revised and expanded in a 1998 edi-
tion that was widely used.
3.5. The 2000s: the critical zone in the Anthropocene
Some of the more important conceptual models developed during
the first decade of the twenty-first century (Fig. 2B) clearly build on ear-
lier traditions. These include
• quantification of fluxes of matter (geomorphic transport laws),
• complexity in system behavior (emergent properties),
• models of landscape development (steady-state versus transient
landscapes), and
• human alterations of river systems (legacy sediments, legacy effects,
Anthropocene, sustainability, physical integrity).
Dietrich et al.'s (2003) summons to develop geomorphic transport
laws that quantify fluxes of matter and energy in diverse components of
the landscape reiterated themes from the 1960s strongly emphasized in
Leopold et al. (1964) regarding the importance of quantifying and math-
ematically predicting geomorphic processes. The increasingly common
use in fluvial geomorphology of phrases such as emergent properties
and nonlinear behavior, which date back more than a century in other
contexts, recast the 1970s emphasis on fluvial complexity and returned
to ideas explored by Thornes (1983). The distinction between steady-
state landscapes that maintain statistically invariant topography and con-
stant denudation rate (Whipple, 2001), and landscapes experiencing
transient increases in erosion rates (Whipple et al., 2000b), can be traced
back to Gilbert's (1877) and Hack's (1960) ideas of landscape develop-
ment, with differentiation of these end members facilitated by DEMs
and GIS. This is not to imply that the later conceptual models are deriva-
tive but rather that their intellectual underpinnings can be traced back
over multiple decades of fluvial geomorphic thinking.
Other conceptual emphases in applied fluvial geomorphology dur-
ing the decade following 2000 drew on developments in ecology. Seek-
ing to characterize what might be broadly described as river health,
fluvial geomorphologists adapted concepts of resilience, sustainability,
and ecological integrity to rivers as geomorphic systems (e.g., Botter
et al., 2013). Resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a
disturbance by resisting change and recovering quickly (Holling,
1973). A resilient system is likely to return to original conditions follow-
ing a disturbance. Sustainability refers to human resource use that
maintains diversity and productivity of ecosystems (UNGA, 1987). An
ecosystem has integrity when it is able to support and maintain a com-
munity of organisms that has species composition, diversity, and func-
tional organization comparable to those of natural habitats within a
region (Karr and Dudley, 1981). Graf (2001) drew on earlier models of
a river as a set of interacting processes and forms to develop the concept
of physical integrity. Graf defined river physical integrity as a set of
active fluvial processes and landforms such that the river maintains dy-
namic equilibrium, with adjustments not exceeding limits of change de-
fined by societal values. Increasing emphasis on diverse aspects of river
health occurred within a sociopolitical context emphasizing rivers as
ecosystems, with scientists and managers seeking to quantify the eco-
system services provided by rivers.
Numerous studies of the effects of changes in land cover essentially
replicated and expanded on Wolman's (1967a) description of changes
in sediment yield and channel geometry in Maryland. Studies focused
on human effects on rivers expanded to emphasize features such as re-
moval of instream wood (Piégay and Gurnell, 1997), flow regulation
(Nilsson et al., 2005), milldams (Walter and Merritts, 2008), levees,
channelization, intensive grazing in the riparian zone (Cooke and
Reeves, 1976; Trimble and Mendel, 1995), invasive exotic riparian veg-
etation (Graf, 1978), and many other activities. Fluvial geomorpholo-
gists increasingly recognized the long history, intensity and ubiquity
of human alteration of rivers (Gregory, 2006; James and Marcus,
2006; Wohl, 2006, 2011). This recognition led to use of the phrases ‘leg-
acy sediments’ and ‘legacy effects’ (Novotny, 2004) for deposits or chan-
nel forms, respectively, resulting from past land uses. The idea of
persistent human effects on river systems goes back many decades
(James, 2013) but became increasingly high profile during the first de-
cade of the twenty-first century.
In a context broader than fluvial geomorphology, the term
Anthropocene, first proposed by Crutzen and Stoermer (2000), became
widely used in recognition of the overwhelming effect of human activ-
ities on ecosystems and landscapes. Several high-profile papers noted
that humans now strongly influence global movement of sediment
(Hooke et al., 2012), water (Vörösmarty et al., 1997), and nutrients
(Boyer et al., 2006), as well as strongly influence global climate (IPCC,
2008). Recognition of the intensity and ubiquity of human effects
strengthened the context for studies focused on quantifying river eco-
logical condition (e.g., Green and Fernández-Bilbao, 2006) and on re-
storing rivers (e.g., Pasternack, 2013).
Research on the interactions between erosional processes and tec-
tonic forces led to the concept of a tectonic aneurysm that describes
how river incision can affect crustal structure in mountain belts by
changing the distribution of stress, heat flow, and molten material in
the crust and upper mantle (Zeitler et al., 2001). Hydrologists conceptu-
alized upland environments as consisting of diverse surface and subsur-
face reservoirs that could turn on and off as precipitation inputs varied
through time and space, creating thresholds in downslope movement
of water as individual reservoirs filled and spilled (Tromp-van Meerveld
and McDonnell, 2006). Although studies prior to the first decade of the
twenty-first century had provided increasing evidence of hydrologic
nonstationarity, Milly et al. (2008) sounded the ‘death knell,’ so to
speak, by conclusively summarizing the evidence that stationarity had
always been a convenient, but inaccurate, assumption. Use of the phrase
‘critical zone’ began during the first decade of the twenty-first century,
as an explicit recognition of the complexity and interconnectedness of
physical, chemical, and biological processes across a spatial range from
the outer limits of vegetation down to and including the zone of ground-
water — the zone that sustains most terrestrial life (NRC, 2001; Brantley
et al., 2006). Phrases such as ‘emergent properties’ and ‘nonlinear be-
havior’ came into wider use, although these phrases arguably describe
system behavior recognized at least as early as the 1970s in fluvial
geomorphology.
Fluvial geomorphic research increasingly examined surficial features
related to rivers on other planets during the early twenty-first century
(Fig. 3). These include newly recognized channels on Mercury (Head
et al., 2011) and on Saturn's moon Titan (Burr et al., 2013), although
water does not seem to be the primary fluid involved in creating these
channels.
Airborne lidar, which illuminates a target with a laser and analyzes
the reflected light, was originally developed in the 1960s, but not widely
applied to fluvial systems until the start of the twenty-first century
 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282 277

(Marks and Bates, 2000) (Fig. 4). Development of terrestrial and water-
penetrating lidar further enhanced the ability to survey at extremely
high spatial resolution (McKean et al., 2008). Although lidar is a very re-
cent technological innovation, it has already had an enormous influence
on the ability of fluvial geomorphologists to observe and interpret con-
temporary and relict fluvial processes and forms. Also during this de-
cade, passive hyperspectral remote sensing and optical remote sensing
were adapted to medium-sized rivers as a means of assessing character-
istics such as distribution of aquatic habitat (Marcus et al., 2003;
Legleiter et al., 2004).
Three new journals came into existence (Fig. 5), including one (Jour-
nal of Geophysical Research Earth Surfaces) devoted primarily to geomor-
phology. The European Geosciences Union was established in 2002,
including a division of geomorphology; and a geomorphically oriented
focus group was created within the American Geophysical Union
(Fig. 6). Seven additional fluvial geomorphic textbooks were published
(Fig. 7). The emphasis on particular aspects of rivers within some of
these books – hydraulics and sediment dynamics (Robert, 2003), sedi-
ment dynamics and stratigraphy (Bridge, 2003), applied fluvial geomor-
phology (Brierley and Fryirs, 2005) – reflected the increasingly broad
and voluminous literature related to fluvial geomorphology.
In summary, by the first decade of the twenty-first century, fluvial
geomorphology was to some extent developing a split personality be-
tween research that emphasized fundamental geological interactions
(e.g., tectonics, climate, and topography) and quantitative expression of
material fluxes and associated changes in form (e.g., geomorphic trans-
port laws), and research that emphasized fluvial–human interactions
(e.g., legacy sediments) and fluvial geomorphic knowledge applied to
contemporary societal concerns (e.g., river restoration, environmental
flows). Within the research addressing fundamental interactions, the
split between problem-oriented and method-oriented studies (Baker,
each account for between 5 and 20% of total content, and channel dy-
namics typically account for 30 to 50% of content. For textbooks that dis-
cuss rivers in the context of landscape evolution, this material averages
5 to 20% of total content and exhibits no trends through time.
4. Concluding remarks
As noted in the introductory section, fluvial geomorphology is the
single largest subdiscipline within geomorphology. One measure of
this is the proportion of fluvial papers published in two of the
discipline's leading journals, Geomorphology and Earth Surface Processes
and Landforms (Fig. 8). Over the period since publication of the journal
began, fluvial geomorphology articles have averaged 63% of the total
number of articles published in Geomorphology and 35% of the total ar-
ticles published in Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. The latter
number, although less than half of the total within this journal, is greater
than any other single specialty area within geomorphology.
Based on the level of interest shown by students and investigators
from other disciplines, fluvial geomorphology has a bright future. As of
2006, for example, 61% of all geosciences graduates in the United
States were employed in the AGI category ‘environmental industry’
(AGI, 2009). This category would include many subdisciplines beyond
fluvial geomorphology but provides some insight into the distribution
of practitioners within the geosciences.
A 500
Geomorphology
400
Number of articles

1988) continued to exist. I would argue that such divergence in research 300
all
fluvial geomorphology
emphasis and approach signifies a growing and dynamic discipline.
Fluvial geomorphology had expanded to recognize a more diverse
200
array of river environments than those that were the focus of research
during the 1960s. This created challenges in that long-established as-
sumptions regarding the relative importance of different magnitudes 100
and frequencies of flow, the distribution of hydraulic forces, the condi-
tions for entrainment and transport of sediment, and the manner in 0
which rivers incised did not adequately describe the entire spectrum of
rivers.
A broad array of new tools facilitated collection of high resolution 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
spatial and temporal data on terrestrial configuration, near-surface stra-
Publication year
tigraphy, water and sediment fluxes in upland and channelized envi-
ronments, and distribution of velocity and hydraulic forces within
channels. These tools made it possible to quantify forces and fluxes act- B
180
ing at the extremes of spatial and temporal scales, from instantaneous
forces and motion of a single sand grain to evolution of drainages across 160 Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
the Himalaya during the Cenozoic. Quaternary chronologies of erosion,
deposition, and changes in channel form grew substantially as much 140
Number of articles

more diverse geochronologic techniques were developed. 120 all

Rapid, easy communication transformed the speed at which re- fluvial geomorphology
search results were disseminated and greatly expanded the geographic 100
scope of the fluvial geomorphic community. A diverse array of journals 80
published fluvial geomorphic papers, making it easier to find a suitable
outlet for each set of research results, but also creating challenges for in- 60
dividuals trying to maintain some sense of the discipline as a whole.
40
Geomorphologists had many homes within professional societies, but
this also created challenges to staying current in the discipline because 20
of the large number of relevant meetings being held each year.
0
The single influential textbook of the 1960s (Leopold et al., 1964) 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
had diversified into numerous useful texts that emphasized different as-
Publication year
pects of fluvial geomorphology. With the exception of river manage-
ment, however, the relative emphasis within these textbooks on Fig. 8. Number of total articles published in each year and number of those articles dealing
different aspects of fluvial geomorphology does not exhibit any pro- with fluvial geomorphology in the journals (A) Geomorphology and (B) Earth Surface Pro-
nounced changes through time. Hydraulics and sediment dynamics cesses and Landforms.
278 E. Wohl / Geomorphology 216 (2014) 263–282
For more than half a century, fluvial geomorphologists have devel-
oped qualitative and quantitative conceptual models of
• fluxes of water, sediment, and solutes within channels and between
channels and adjacent environments;
• measures of hydraulic complexity, channel boundary complexity,
aquatic and riparian habitat, and riverine retentiveness of water, sed-
iment, and solutes;
• channel response to natural and human-induced disturbances and to
channel stability;
• spatial zonation of riverine process and form within drainage basins;
and
• measures of physical integrity.
This knowledge is integral to understanding and managing rivers,
including restoring desired riverine traits that have been compromised
or lost through past land use and river engineering, and developing
strategies for sustainable development (Mora, 2013). The applied as-
pects of fluvial geomorphology have grown substantially since 1960 as
the public and the scientific community have become increasingly
aware of, and concerned about, the cumulative effects of humans on
river systems. This is reflected in the space given to river management
within fluvial textbooks. Textbooks published during the 1960s did
not include this topic as a separate category within the table of contents.
By the first decade of the twenty-first century, this topic averaged 11% of
the content of basic fluvial textbooks (as opposed to textbooks specifi-
cally oriented toward management, such as Brierley and Fryirs, 2005).
Fluvial geomorphology also faces some serious challenges, however,
in maintaining societal relevance in a human-dominated environment.
Applied fluvial geomorphology overlaps with civil engineering hydrolo-
gy and hydraulics, for example, and engineers have until recently taken
a more active and prominent role in river restoration and natural hazard
reduction than have fluvial geomorphologists (e.g., NRC, 1992).
Based on research emphases that appear to be gathering momen-
tum, I anticipate increasing attention during the next decade to
• headwater rivers in both mountainous and lowland environments as
important influences on network-scale hydrology, sediment dynam-
ics, biodiversity, and river health (Freeman et al., 2007; Dodds and
Oakes, 2008; Leibowitz et al., 2008);
• large river process and form (Gupta, 2007), including large-river res-
toration integrated across the scale of entire drainage basins
(Arthington and Pusey, 2003; Bloesch and Sieber, 2003; Jacobson
and Galat, 2006; Flessa et al., 2013);
• the role of rivers in carbon (Leithold et al., 2006; Battin et al., 2008;
Richardson et al., 2009; Madej, 2010; Aufdenkampe et al., 2011;
Wohl et al., 2012) and nitrogen dynamics (Craig et al., 2008; Hall
et al., 2009; Krause et al., 2013) at local to global scales;
• rivers in the context of the Anthropocene (as highlighted by the first
issue of the journal Anthropocene in 2013, with fluvial geomorphologist
Anne Chin as editor-in-chief), with a particular emphasis on quantita-
tive metrics of river health or ecological and physical integrity because
of the need to manage rivers within a regulatory context such as the
European Union's Water Framework Directive;
• bedrock channel process and form in the context of landscape evolu-
tion (Attal et al., 2011; Gasparini and Brandon, 2011; Nelson and
Seminara, 2011); and
• quantitative indices of diverse forms of connectivity within and be-
tween river networks.
These are examples highlighted within what is an increasingly broad
and diverse subdiscipline that will undoubtedly continue to change rap-
idly and in sometimes unexpected directions. As Church (2013, p. 190)
noted in a recent overview of geomorphic field research, fluvial geomor-
phology since 1950 ‘has been in a continuous state of change driven sig-
nificantly by the advent of new technologies for observation and
analysis.’
Reviewing the developments highlighted in this paper, I can sum-
marize fluvial geomorphology in 1960 as being focused on making the
discipline a quantitative science. By 2010, a quantitative emphasis
remained strong, but members of the fluvial geomorphic community
also actively sought to make the discipline an integrative science that
society and other disciplines recognize as relevant to managing natural
resources and to meeting the challenges of adaptation and sustainability
inherent in the crowded, engineered, and rapidly changing world of the
twenty-first century.
Acknowledgments
I thank Jim O'Connor for the invitation to give a presentation on this
topic at the 2013 Geological Society of America meeting, which led to
this paper. I thank Richard Marston for providing the publication statis-
tics for Geomorphology. Reviews by Natalie Kramer, Katherine Lininger,
Dan Scott, Vic Baker, Jim O'Connor, and an anonymous reviewer greatly
improved the manuscript.
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