Key events in the history of quantitative geomorphology
1889
USGS begins operation of its first streamgage
The USGS’s Irrigation Survey branch started streamgaging activities on the Rio Grande to determine the irrigation potential of the area, laying the foundation for the later establishment of the Water Resources Division.1907
G.K. Gilbert conducts landmark flume experiments
U.S. geologist Grover Karl Gilbert’s flume experiments sought to quantify laws relating to sediment transport in rivers. His quantitative methods served as an inspiration for later geomorphologists and continue to be cited today.1922
Colorado River Compact signed
An agreement between seven U.S. states to share water from the Colorado River, the Compact shapes water policy in the US Southwest for decades to come.1945
Robert Horton publishes landmark paper on streams and drainage basins
Horton’s exhortation to quantify in his paper “Erosional development of streams and their drainage basins” inspires a generation of quantitative geomorphologists.1949
USGS Water Resources Branch becomes Water Resources Division
The Division, which would be headed by Luna Leopold from 1957 to 1966, has separate branches for surface water, ground water and water quality.1950
Unesco launches Arid Zone Program
Unesco’s Natural Science Division launched the program to research various aspects of arid zones: groundwater, soil, climate and energy needs to name a few. This was one of Unesco’s first forays into the scientific study of water and helped lay the foundation for the International Hydrological Decade.1953
Luna Leopold and Thomas Maddock, Jr., introduce concept of hydraulic geometry
Leopold and Maddock publish a paper on “The hydraulic geometry of stream channels and some physiographic implications,” which offers a quantitative model of relationships between channel depth, width, velocity, and discharge.1957
Luna Leopold appointed USGS Chief Hydraulic Engineer
Leopold remains head of the Water Resources Division until 1966. In 1963 he successfully advocates to have the position renamed “Chief Hydrologist.”1959
U.S. Senate establishes Select Committee on National Water Resources
The Select Committee was established in the midst of widespread concerns over a looming U.S. water crisis. Graphs and charts from Luna Leopold’s testimony were published in one of the Select Committee’s first prints, “Water Facts and Problems.”1962
Large experimental flume built at Colorado State University
A 200-foot-long flume, informally called the “Grand Canyon” by graduate students, is constructed with USGS funding. Located in CSU’s new Engineering Research Center, it serves as the site for experiments by researchers from CSU, USGS, the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.1964
Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology published
Leopold, Wolman and Miller’s textbook on quantitative geomorphology transformed the field of fluvial geomorphology with its highly quantitative, process-oriented approach. It was the standard reference for decades and remains a classic in the discipline to this day.1964
Water Resources Research Act signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson
The WRRA addressed a perceived crisis of imminent water shortages by establishing Water Resources Research Institutes across the United States.1965
International Hydrological Decade commences
The IHD was the first international scientific program aimed at studying the hydrological cycle. Its activities broadly fell under three areas: research, data collection, and inventory and water balance.1965
Luna Leopold leads expedition down the Colorado River
Leopold organized this USGS expedition to collect precise depth measurements over a several-hundred-mile-long stretch of the Colorado River. Until then, such measurements had been confined to isolated cross-sections, usually where a bridge or a dam had already been constructed.1971
Hearings held on stream channelization
The Soil Conservation Service’s stream channelization program sought to straighten and deepen rivers in order to control flooding. In the early 1970s, environmentalists – with the support of some fluvial geomorphologists – criticized the program’s high cost and ecologically destructive consequences.1975
