River Plains and Sea Coasts

River Plains and Sea Coasts presents Richard Russell’s Hitchcock Lectures of 1965, a landmark synthesis of his decades of research into geomorphology—the study of landforms and the processes that shape them. In these lectures Russell reflects on his intellectual departure from the Davisian model of cyclical erosion, which had dominated early twentieth-century geography, toward a more dynamic, process-oriented approach rooted in fieldwork and earth history. Drawing from his long engagement with the Mississippi River floodplain, its terraces, and the Gulf Coast plain, Russell demonstrates how careful attention to rivers, deltas, and coasts reveals both the complexity of Quaternary environments and the ongoing evolution of landscapes.

The volume traces Russell’s forty-year trajectory of discovery, moving from the floodplains and alluvial valleys of Louisiana to coastal plains and tropical island environments worldwide. He discusses meanders, levees, and deltaic processes; the classification of beaches and tidal flats; and the geomorphology of coral reefs and algal flats. With clarity and precision, Russell links detailed empirical observations to broader insights into the shaping of lowlands and fringing seas, illustrating how local studies illuminate global processes. Partly autobiographical, the lectures also underscore Russell’s role in revitalizing geomorphology, connecting it to allied disciplines, and founding the Coastal Studies Institute. A work of both reflection and synthesis, River Plains and Sea Coasts offers geographers, geologists, and earth scientists an accessible yet authoritative overview of the evolving science of landform analysis and its implications for understanding environmental change.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1967.