The Use of Historical Data and Artifacts in Geomorphology

7/30/2019 The Use of Historical Data and Artifacts in Geomorphology

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Progress in Physical Geography 32(1) (2008) pp. 329

2008 SAGE Publications DOI: 10.1177/0309133308089495

The use of historical data and artifacts

in geomorphology

Stanley W. Trimble*

Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles,

CA 90024-1524, USA

Abstract: Historical data and artifacts, as commonly used in historical geography, can provide

powerful tools for dating geomorphological processes over the past century or more and applicationscan range from months to millennia. Investigations in geomorphology and environmental

management can be greatly enhanced by the use of historical techniques. The approach is useful for

tracing human-induced changes as well as for those occurring naturally. Several primary techniques

are introduced in this essay.

Key words: historical articrafts, historical data, historical techniques, histriography.

*Email: [email protected]

I Introduction

Although commonly used in cultural-historical

geography, historical data and techniques are

becoming increasingly important in ascer-taining changes of the physical environment.

This importance stems from the fact that

(1) understanding processes in historical

time gives important insights to processes

in geologic time and (2) the knowledge of

processes and trends of the past century

or so allows more effective environmental

management.

New impetus to this trend has been given

by the question that increasingly faces

stream and wetland restoration: restore towhat? For example, a large Georgia swamp

pronounced by authorities as primeval was

shown to have been prime agricultural land

in the nineteenth century which had been

transformed to swamp by human action

(Trimble, 1970a). On the other hand, some

Australian lakes and rivers commonly thoughtto have been radically transformed by human

action were shown to have changed relatively

little and those changes may have had more

natural than human causation (Finlayson,

1984; Finlayson and Brizga, 1995).

An earlier overview and keen critique and

analysis of the historical approach is given

by the outstanding work of Hooke and Kain

(1982), especially the use of British sources,

and is required reading for anyone using

historical data. Historical data as used here(and in most other papers cited) primarily

concern cultural data and artifacts. While

more natural or scientific dating methods


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4 Progress in Physical Geography 32(1)

such as dendrochronology, anthropogenic

pedogenesis, stratigraphy, and isotopic

dating are touched on, full coverage is not

appropriate.

Among the first to use historical data in

geomorphology was George Perkins Marsh

(1864). While usually most appropriate tothe last few centuries, data and landscape

artifacts from classical civilizations were used

by Vita-Finzi (1969) to date stream processes

over a much longer period, a timescale per-

haps archaeological rather than historical.

While historical data are most often used to

study human-induced geomorphic changes,

they sometimes may be used to measure

changes that may be occurring quite natur-

ally (Schmudde, 1963; Alexander and

Nunnally, 1972). Indeed, some of the mostscholarly, not to mention most fascinating,

works of thisgenre are those by Parry (1978),and especially by Grove (1966; 1972; 1988).

For the United States, a timescale of

about three centuries, Trimble and Cooke

(1991) have amassed and critiqued historical

data sources for geomorphic change. But

a much broader and comprehensive eco-

system approach is that of Egan and Howell

(2001). This fuller environmental scale is

used by Whitney (1995) in a magisterialwork that may be the most comprehensive

and compelling use of historical data yet.

Conzen et al. (1993) have regionally cata-logued studies of the historical geography

of the USA and Canada. Such source lists

and bibliographies for other regions would

be most useful.

For Britain, a delightful and instructive

volume edited by Higgitt and Lee (2001)

not only encapsulates geomorphological

changes AD 10002000, but also implicitlyincludes many techniques covered in this

paper. Essays are by D. Brunsden, D. Jones,

B. Rumsby, J. Hooke, E. Lee, D. Higgitt, J.

Warburton, M. Evans and I. Foster.

II Some basic techniques

While it is possible to identify some gen-

eral principles of using historical data, it is

impossible to give clinical directions on their

use because every application is different.

Instead, this essay presents some applica-

tions of historical data and analysis to the

study of geomorphological forms and pro-

cesses. Several specific approaches or

techniques are presented with examples.The reader is also directed to Thornes and

Brunsden (1977), Gregory (1979; 1987),

Hooke and Kain (1982), Grove (1988), Cooke

and Doornkamp (1990), Trimble and Cooke

(1991), Trimble (1998; 2001), Collins and

Montgomery (2001), Vita-Finzi (2002),

Brown et al. (2003), Gurnell et al. (2003) andreferences given therein. An examination

of examples and the sources themselves

can often give insight and inspiration for

a particular application and that is the ap-proach of this paper.

For this review, most emphasis will be

placed on geomorphic effects (form and

process), but two sections (climate and land

use) deal with causes. It is, however, important

to note that effects in one place may act as

causes elsewhere. The organization herein

loosely follows that adopted by Trimble and

Cooke (1991).

1 Instrumented topographic surveysWhile not available for many locations,

topographic surveys are often the best base-

line data to be obtained. Costa (1978), for

example, was able to reconstruct bankfull

discharge back to 1858 for a stream in

Denver, Colorado. When available, data

reposited in the Vigil Network are extremely

useful because they are developed by geo-

morphologists and are designed for restudy

(Leopold and Emmett, 1965; Emmett and

Hadley, 1968; Emmett, 1974; Osterkampet al., 1990). For the USA, it is hard to over-emphasize the utility of detailed topographic

surveys by the US Army Corps of Engineers

(COE) on many US streams over the last cen-

tury or so. Longitudinal and cross-sectional

profiles by COE were essential to Adler

(1980) and James (1989) who studied the

movement of erosional debris from hydraulic


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Stanley W. Trimble: Historical data and artifacts in geomorphology 5

mining in California. Also in California,

Kondolf and Curry (1986) used COE pro-

files to show channel migration, while

Kesel et al. (1992) used them to establish asediment budget for the lower Mississippi

River. Carson (2003) used detailed COE

topographic surveys of the upper MississippiRiver floodplains to show that inundation

from low navigation dams actually enhanced

fluvial processes on the old floodplains. At

a much more local (brook) scale, Federico

(2003) used detailed COE maps to measure

channel erosion resulting from urbanization

in southern California.

Detailed maps are sometimes available in

unexpected times and places and may show

unexpected details. In Russia, Golosov and

Panin (2006) used a series of maps from the1780s to show how stream networks had

shrunk in response to climate and land-use

changes. In Poland, Zygmunt (2003) was

able to demonstrate the narrowing of a

stream over a 270-year period.

Brizga and Finlayson (1994) used a series

of nine profiles surveyed by an Australian

agency between 1920 and 1988 to discount

sustained channel change on the lower Snowy

River, while Thoms and Walker (1992) used a

government survey of the lower Murray Riveras a baseline for determining the effects of

a weir system. Detailed nineteenth-century

surveys of European rivers allow compre-

hensive planning for restoration (eg, Kern,

1992). Assani and Petit (2004) used a series

of precise surveys to show the downstream

effects of a reservoir in Belgium, while

Thomaset al. (2004) found archived baselinestudies of a gully in Iowa and were able to

precisely show subsequent changes. Piegey

et al. (2004) used surveys of the Rhone Riverdating from 1835 to document later changes

of channel form. In using topographic sur-

veys, one should always check to see if level

lines are closed and, if so, to what level of

precision. Measuring vertical increments of

centimetres across a broad floodplain may

be inaccurate unless 3rd- or 4th- order survey

standards are maintained and many older

transits or theodolites were not capable of

that precision.

Coastlines have been mapped to increas-

ingly precise standards over the past two

to three centuries (Carr, 1980). Such surveys

have been used to excellent advantage

to measure estuar ine sedimentat ion(Gottschalk, 1945; Figure 1), coastal erosion

(Dolan and Bosserman, 1972; Figure 2),

shoreline evolution (Robinson, 1966; El-

Ashry and Wanless, 1968; Engstrom, 2006),

long-term harbour changes (Robinson,

1955; Bird, 1987) and growth of a delta

(Ren, 1985). Detailed harbour plans date

from 1800 in the UK (Hooke and Kain, 1982)

and the mid-nineteenth century in the USA

(Trimble and Cooke, 1991).

Older stage-discharge rating records forstream gauging stations can be indispensable.

For the United States, some of these were

begun in the nineteenth century and were

sometimes revised frequently. Each succes-

sive revision entailed at least one surveyed

cross-section which may be contained in the

archival records and such series have been

used by Cooke and Reeves (1976), Williams

and Wolman (1984), James (1997), van

Steeter and Pitlick (1998), and Erskine and

Warner (1999) to study channel changes.Gauging stations sometimes include control

structures, such as weirs or flumes, which

also can be used for dating (Trimble, 1975a).

Topographic maps, although at a lower re-

solution, can be important sources. Maps and

travel accounts were used by Butzer (1971)

to document lake levels and delta growth,

18881930, in Lake Rudolf, Ethiopia. Drawn

without the benefit of aerial photography,

older topographic maps require caution but

are still valuable (Lewin, 1978; Werrittyand Ferguson, 1980; Hooke and Kain, 1982;

Hooke and Harvey, 1983; Lewis and Lewin,

1983; Lawler, 1993; Surian, 1999; Pasternack

et al., 2001; Liebault and Piegay, 2002; Pisut,2002; see Blakemore and Harley, 1980, and

Downward, 1995, for concepts of accuracy

using old topographic maps). Graf (1983a),

for example, was able to show channel


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0 150 300

Metres

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Mean low water

18981924

18451898

Before 1845

Depthinmetres

Figure 1 Estuarine sedimentation sequence, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, based ondetailed topography from US Army Corps of Engineers and US Coast and GeodeticSurvey

Source: Adapted from Gottschalk (1945).

migration of the Salt River near Phoenix,

Arizona, from 1868 onward, while Madej

et al. (1994) used a large-scale topographicmap to measure bank erosion on the Merced

River in California. Erskineet al. (1992) docu-mented channel cutoffs from 1879 in SE

Australia, while Gregory and Ovende (1980)used the same approach to demonstrate in-

creases of drainage density in the Southern

Pennines. Land use in the UK from as early

as 1776 was reconstructed from Ordnance

Survey maps in order to understand erosion

and sedimentation trends (Foster et al., 1997;2000; Foster and Lees, 1999). Meandering

and channel migration since the nineteenth

century has been investigated by Sundborg

(1956), Mosley (1975), Hooke (1977; 2004),

Lewin and Brindle (1977), Hooke and Harvey(1983), Hooke and Redmond (1989) and

Surian (1999). Perhaps the longest-term

study using topographic maps is the four-

century evolution of embanked floodplains

in the Netherlands (Middelkoop, 1997). Soil

maps dating to the nineteenth century are

often at a larger scale and include many

features of interest to the geomorphologist

(Trimble, 1970a). Because the training of soil

scientists was quite similar to that of physical

geographers, the narrative of soil surveysshould also be consulted.

Studies of flooding have been published by

various governmental agencies over the past

century or more (Trimble and Cooke, 1991).

One such study was used by Cooke (1984)

to delineate flooded zones and flood deposits

for the 1914 floods in Los Angeles County

(Figure 3).

Unusual landscape features are more likely

to be documented. Hence, Niagara Falls,

New York, was surveyed several times, be-ginning in 1678, which made it feasible to

determine the recession rate (Philbrick, 1970).

US rivers were commonly given relatively

frequent and precise surveys by the US Army


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RO

ANO

K EI S L A N D

0

0 .5

1 km

mi

NorthwestPoint

Fort Raleigh

OtisCove

1585

1851

1903

1970

Al b

e ma

r l eS o u n d

0 5km

Albemarle Sound

Atlantic

Ocean

Figure 2 Shoreline erosion of Roanoke Island, North Carolina. The shorelines of 1851and 1903 are from coastal surveys prepared by the US Army Corps of Engineers and bythe US Coast and Geodetic Survey. The projected 1585 shoreline is extrapolated from

the average erosion rates of 18511970Source: Adapted from Dolan and Bosserman (1972).

Corps of Engineers which have been too little

utilized by geomorphologists (Trimble and

Cooke, 1991).

2 Stream and sediment discharge recordsFor the United States, stream discharge data

go back to about 1850, are quite plentiful for

this century, and most are easily available(Trimble and Cooke, 1991). Knoxet al. (1975)were able to construct the annual flood

series in the Upper Mississippi River for the

period after c. 1850 showing an ameliorationaround the turn of the century. Costa (1978)

reconstructed flood records for Denver,

Colorado, going back to 1864. Trimble et al.

(1987) used streamflow records dating

from 1900 to show that reforestation had

decreased streamflow for 10 large basins

in the southeastern USA. Potter (1991)

showed that annual floods had decreased

in southwestern Wisconsin after 1940 and

suggested that land treatment (rather than

land use) accounted for the change. Price

(1998) showed that flood regimes on theSouthern Piedmont, c. 19051975, had beenmoderated by improved land-use and con-

servation practices. Price (1998) also cor-

roborated the lag of hydrologic response

behind changes of land use earlier shown by

Trimble and Lund (1982) and Potter (1991).

Van Steeter and Pitlick (1998) demonstrated

that dams and diversions moderated the


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flood regime of the Colorado River during the

period 19171965. Wasklewicz et al. (2004)used stage records as surrogates for changesof flow characteristics on the Mississippi

River, while Juracek (2004) used gauging

station data to show changes of bed elevation

in Kansas.

In the UK, data are less plentiful than in

the USA, but have improved greatly since

about 1950 (Hooke and Kain, 1982). Using

historical techniques, the Institute of Hydro-

logy has lengthened the flood record for

Britain (Hooke and Kain, 1982). In addition, at

least two other excellent guides to historical

streamflow in the UK have appeared (Jones

et al., 1984; Sutcliffe, 1987).The USA has collected sediment discharge

data from the early twentieth century, and

both quantity and quality of sampling has

increased (Trimble and Cooke, 1991). Such

records were used by Meade and Trimble

(1974) to show the decrease of sediment

yield along the eastern seaboard of the USAbetween 1910 and 1970 as a result of (1) better

land use, and (2) reservoir construction (see

also Meade, 1982; Meade and Parker, 1985).

Trimble (1975b; 1977) compared these same

sediment yields to upland erosion rates based

on historical soil profile truncations to show

that streams were not in steady state. Hadley

(1974) showed that decreases of sediment

yield on the Colorado River 19261960 were

not related to decreases of grazing. Using

reservoir deposition rates plus unit runoff

data, Trimble and Carey (1984) demonstrated

how historical stream sediment concentra-

tions could be retrodicted. Bierman et al.(2005) used historical stream sediment

records to contrast erosion rates and sedi-

ment yields in the southwestern USA, while

Ferrier et al. (2005) did a similar study innorthern California.

Santa Monica Mtns.

San Gabrie l Mtns

San Fernando

Valley

San Gabrie l

Valley

flooded before 1914

flooded in 1914

heavily aggraded in 1914

Los

Angeles

Basin

10 km

Pacific Ocean

Figure 3 Areas of flooding and sedimentation in 1914 and areas flooded before 1914 insouthern Los Angeles County, California

Source:Original data from Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Adapted fromCooke (1984).


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3 Permanent landscape featuresCommon, but permanent, landscape features

can sometimes act as gauges to measure

physical landscape change. Considered here

are: bridges; dams, mills, reservoirs, fords

and fish traps; roads, canals, causeways and

buildings.

a Bridges: Inspection of older bridges by apractised eye can often yield immediate

information about stream processes. Aggrad-

ing streams are often indicated by reduced

stream openings (Happet al., 1940; Trimble,1970b; Costa, 1978) and by the burial of

structural members (eg, wingwalls) which

are usually exposed to the stream. Degrad-

ing streams, on the other hand, can often

be diagnosed from old water lines left onstructural members, by exceptionally large

openings, and by the exposure of structural

members (eg, footings, pilings) which are

usually placed beneath the surface. The

remains of an old bridge were used by

Williams (1978) to show changes of channel

form on the North Platte River in Nebraska,

while bridges were useful in showing channel

changes in the River Severn, UK (Lewin,1979), and on the Bega River of New South

Wales (Brooks and Brierley, 1997).

Often of greater value are bridge plans,

usually obtained from governmental agen-

cies. In the USA, townships, counties and

states usually archive bridge plans. These

will usually include a stream and valley cross-

section surveyed before bridge construction

which can be resurveyed for comparison

(Figure 4). In comparing profiles, it must be

ensured that the present bridge has notinduced local scour or deposition which would

thus make comparison difficult or invalid.

Figure 4 Historical stream and valley sedimentation based on a railroad bridge profile,Hurricane Creek, Lafayette County, Mississippi. Aggradation between 1911 and 1936was about 2 m

Source:Adapted from Happ et al. (1940).


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Often, plans will include a detailed topo-

graphic map of the stream reach and some

may also include surveyed cross-sections at

some distance upstream or downstream.

The latter surveys are particularly valuable

because they are less affected by scour or

dam effects induced by some bridges.Often, a succession of bridges has been

located at the same site. Highway bridge

plans in the USA often go back to the turn of

the century and railroad plans to the mid- to

late nineteenth century. These were put to

good use by Happet al. (1940) and by Cooke

and Reeves (1976). In the UK, bridge, highway

and railroad plans are usually available from

the early nineteenth century (Hooke and

Kain, 1982). Fortunately, the same vertical

datum is normally used for successive bridges

at a site so that resurveys of century-old

profiles are facilitated. Bridge surveys were

used to great effect in showing channel

changes from 1861 in southeastern Australia

(Erskine, 1999; Erskine and Warner, 1999).

Even when datum changes, parts of the old

bridge may be excavated to re-establish ele-

vations (Trimble, 1998).

Bridges are usually inspected periodically

by government agencies. The resulting re-

ports usually include considerable description

and measurements of site conditions, and

often include photographs which allow time-

lapse photography.

b Dams, mills, reservoirs, fords and fish traps:

Changes in streams often create severe prob-

lems in the operation of mills and reservoirs

and such problems may have been docu-

mented or can be established (Trimble, 1998).

Trimble (1970a; 1970b) used mill dams, fish

traps, and stream fords, in part, to document

the aggradation and degradation of streams

on the Georgia Piedmont. That work has

been recently extended by Ferguson (1997a;

1997b) who has used subsurface radar and

magnetometer surveys to establish the pre-

sence of datable landscape features buried

beneath the floodplain and thus establish

accretion rates, and by Ruhlman and Nutter

(1999) who used Trimbles 1960s field data as

a baseline. Other types of low dams, such as

weirs and irrigation diversions, are similarly

useful to gauge stream changes (Gilbert,

1917; Thornthwaite et al., 1942; Vita-Finzi,

1969; Cooke and Reeves, 1976; Thoms andWalker, 1993). Limbrey (1983) points out the

enticing possibility of locating Anglo-Saxon

mills and paved Roman fords in the UK as a

means of dating fluvial processes.

While nearly all small water-powered mills

had reservoirs, most of these were channel-

type pools which had low trap efficiency for

sediment. Some mills and later hydroelectric

and flood-control dams have a large volum-

etric capacity in relation to their drainage

area and thus have a high trap efficiency so

that sediment yield can be measured with

some confidence (Brune, 1953; Trimble

and Bube, 1990). Data from large reservoirs

may be useful on a decadal timescale (Eakin,

1936; Trimble and Lund, 1982; Petts, 1984;

Petts and Foster, 1985; Foster et al., 1990;

Labadzet al., 1991; Trimble and Carey, 1992;

McManus and Duck, 1993). These data have

the advantage of often being long-term and

of including normally unmeasured sediment

(eg, bedload) but caution must be exercised

lest lake sedimentation rates be inflated by

shoreline erosion.

Erosion and sediment yield studies based

on lakes and reservoirs have blossomed in

the UK during the last two decades (Oldfield,

1977; Burtet al., 1984; Petts, 1984; Fosteret

al., 1985; 1986; 1990; McManus and Duck,

1985; Petts and Foster, 1985; Duck and

McManus, 1987; 1990; Stott, 1987; Stott

et al., 1988; Labadz et al., 1991; Dearing and

Foster, 1993; McManus and Duck, 1993).

While using many dating techniques not

under the purview of this paper, some of

these studies establish sediment yields well

back into the nineteenth century. A com-

prehensive survey of 28 reservoirs in the

Southern Pennines, for example, yielded data

from as early as 1840 (Butcher et al., 1993).


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Estate lakes in the UK, such as built by Cap-

ability Brown or Humphrey Repton, for

example, are extraordinary and relatively

untapped data sources, some of which date

well into the eighteenth century. Estate

records of construction and maintenance

along with modern dating techniques(eg, Fosteret al., 1985) should together givesome extremely good long-term records of

sediment yields under varying land-use and

climatic conditions.

Many reservoirs are given continuing

surveys which sometimes must be obtained

from repositories, but compendia are peri-

odically published, usually by governmental

agencies (eg, Dendy and Champion, 1978;

US Geological Survey, 1983). Forty-five

years of such data (192570) from a largereservoir system, the Tennessee Valley

Authority, were used by Trimble and Bube

(1990) in a cascade optimization analysis to

construct trap efficiency rates for sediment

coming directly into reservoirs and also for

sediment which had already passed through

upstream reservoirs (Figure 5). The data

were also used to establish long-term ratesof sediment accumulation, yields and fluxes

in a stream basin of 113,000 km2.

c Roads, canals and causeways: Roads(including railroads) and causeways serve as

benchmarks to measure changes of stream

morphology and process. An example is

from Coon Creek in the Driftless Area of

Wisconsin (Figure 6). The 1852 surface is

the pre-agricultural soil as determined from

borings (McKelvey, 1939). Before the avail-ability of isotopic dating, McKelvey (1939)

Figure 5 Sediment trap efficiency ratings for reservoirs based on sedimentation ratesin Tennessee Valley Authority reservoirs, 192570

Source:Adapted from Trimble and Bube (1990).


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and Happ (1944) dated the pre-agricultural

soil of this region by cultural artifacts. In

another location, the sedimentary contact

of the floodplain soil and the fill of a railroad

embankment was used to establish the 1904

floodplain surface (Trimble and Lund, 1982).

The 1922 surface in Figure 6 is a roadwayabandoned when the bridge was relocated

100 m downstream. This roadway was de-

scribed by an eyewitness as being maintained

level with the floodplain until the time of

abandonment. It was located by dug holes

and borings, the diagnostic feature being

crushed limestone gravel at a uniform level.

The 1938 profile was surveyed just up-

stream by a governmental agency and the

1976 profile was surveyed using the 1938

datum (Trimble, 1981; 1983; Trimble andLund, 1982). It will be noted that the rate

of floodplain aggradation increased sig-

nificantly from the first period (70 years) to

the second period (16 years) when vertical

accretion rates averaged about 15 cm per

year (Trimble and Lund, 1982). A 1993 re-

survey (not shown, but see Trimble, 1999)

showed about 415 cm accretion in 17 years.

These five dated floodplains furnish a re-

markable record of the rates of accelerated

sedimentation in a highly impacted basin.Lateral movement of streams or gullies

can also be gauged with the help of roads

and canals (Ireland et al., 1939). When theformer position of a road or canal in relation

to the stream can be determined from docu-

mentary evidence such as old maps or aerial

photographs, its present location will allow

an average rate of lateral migration to be

calculated. Significant stream migration usu-

ally takes place on the timescale of decades

or centuries, but on occasion it occurs in afew years, or even months (Lawler, 1993).

Authorities will normally take whatever

measures are necessary to protect a road or

canal impinged upon by a laterally migrating

19741974

19381938

2291

1922

25811

00 50

metres

Figure 6 Stream and valley aggradation sequence, Coon Creek, Wisconsin, based onvarious historical techniques (see text). Sediment yields during the 1930s were about3000 tkm2

Source:Adapted from Trimble and Lund (1982).


11/28


stream. Some sort of documentation is

normally prepared, often with plans and

maps. Structures put into place then act

as benchmarks to measure future stream

movement. In Wisconsin, for example, a

roadbank reinforcement installed in 1947

later showed that the cut bank had advancedabout 10 m in five years (Trimble, 1975a).

Other road-protection structures useful for

future measurement are dikes, levees and

rip-rap. Additionally, roads are often raised

above normal flooding or aggrading flood-

plains by fill, and the level of the old road be-

neath may be ascertained from construction

plans, borings or excavations.

Cultural artifacts of harbours relate to

both coastal and fluvial phenomena. Finding

harbour features such as mooring cleatsseveral km from open water, for example,

allowed Gottschalk (1945) to establish the

rate of advance for a prograding delta in the

Chesapeake Bay of Maryland. For the UK,

Limbrey (1983) points out the possibility of

locating Roman harbour features as well as

riverine features such as causeways, bridges,

and fords. It appears that the evolution of

the great cuspate foreland of Kent known

as Dungeness was cartographically recon-

structed for AD 300 by Cunliffe (1980)partially on the basis of Roman relicts and,

for later periods, based partially on Anglo-

Saxon chronicles.

d Buildings: The work of archaeologistsrelating to buildings in the present context is

highly instructive (Butzer, 1964; Butzer and

Hansen, 1968; Vita-Finzi, 1973; 1978; 2002;

Limbrey, 1983). Thieme and Schuldenrein

(1998) used archaeological sites for age

control in Pennsylvania. In Ethiopia, Butzer(1971) used a ruined fort to gauge long-term

lake fluctuations. In Switzerland, Heim

(1989[1932]) used buildings to calibrate

characteristics of landslide, both potential

and active. Coates (1979) used buildings and

other structures to measure subsidence.

Other examples are given by Hooke and

Kain (1982). Except for occasional mills,

buildings are rarely constructed on active

floodplains, and even when close to streams,

they are usually sited on terraces. Thus,

when a structure is affected by sediment,

it often indicates important changes of

stream or sediment regime. Generally, when

a building is significantly impacted by waterand/or sediment, steps are taken to move

or raise the building if possible. If not, the

building is usually dismantled, leaving only

the foundation, which itself can serve as a

benchmark (Trimble, 1998). Once the foun-

dation has been covered with sediment,

however, the location must be established

from old maps, land plats or perhaps eye-

witness testimony although Ferguson (1997a;

1997b) has used subsurface radar. Likewise,

the chronology must be established fromsuch sources as maps and land survey plats,

tax records, or eyewitness accounts. Unlike

roads and causeways which may be located

by borings, it is best to excavate around as

much of the building as possible because it is

necessary to see how the buildings occupants

interfaced with the stream. For example, did

an entrance face the stream? Artifacts be-

tween the building and the stream such as

steps, walks, fences (McKelvey, 1939) and

small outbuildings would imply that thearea was frequented by people at one time,

thus implying low frequency of flooding. In

studying the buried village of Village Creek,

Allamakee County, Iowa, for example,

Trimble found a buried chicken house be-

tween a dwelling house and the stream which

allowed him to infer that the site flooded

infrequently at the time of construction.

Buildings may be occasionally useful for

measuring stream channel erosion. The work

of Bryan (1925), Cooke and Reeves (1976),Womack and Schumm (1977) and others

in studying arroyos (gullies) in the western

United States has relevance. In parts of

Europe (eg, Germany), older buildings have

historic flood levels marked, sometimes back

to the Middle Ages, so that high flood dis-

charges can be calculated and a long-term

flood series reconstructed. Such markings


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were also used by Madej et al. (1994) inCalifornia. In many places, flood stages

were often marked on buildings and bridges.

Werrity et al. (2006) used flood marks on abridge in Perth Scotland to corroborate sedi-

mentary flood dating, thus reconstructing

almost two centuries of flood record.

4 Land (cadastral) surveysAlthough they refer only to the plan view,

land surveys can often supply important

information to the fluvial geomorphologist.

Although they relate more to vegetation,

outstanding guides to North American ori-

ginal land surveys are given by Whitney

(1995) and Wang (2005). The original land

surveys have been used to establish pre-

agricultural floodplain conditions in theUSA (Trimble, 1970a; 1970b; Shankman and

Smith, 2004), upland vegetation (Trewartha,

1940; Knox, 1977) and stream widths (Cooke

and Reeves, 1976; Knox, 1977; Eschneret al.,1981; Brooks and Brierley, 1997; Fitzpatrick

et al ., 1999). In California, Kondolf andCurry (1986) used surveys of Spanish land

grants to estimate channel changes, while

Trimble (2003) used them to show the virtual

absence of natural streams before European

settlement on bahadas that are now denselyurbanized. In British Columbia, Church

(1983) used the cadastral survey of 188993

to fix the route of the Bella Coala River. In

other areas and more recent periods, ongoing

land resurveys sometimes give useful descrip-

tions of geomorphological interest.

Related sources are estate maps, tithe

maps and enclosure maps (Hooke and Kain,

1982). Tithe maps have been used to date

river meanders from 1840 (Lewinet al., 1977;

Lewin, 1978; Hooke and Harvey, 1983; Lewisand Lewin, 1983), while a detailed map of

1749 provided qualitative information about

stream braiding (Werrity and Ferguson,

1980). An exceptional study of this genreused deeds, private papers, and local maps to

reconstruct aspects of the River Trent back

to AD 1200 (Petts et al., 1992). Tax mapsand tax records are particularly valuable

and underused sources (Trimble and Cooke,

1991). Tax records were used to establish the

advance and retreat of glaciers in Norway

(Hoel and Werenskiold, 1962; Grove, 1972;

1988) and in the Alps (Grove, 1966; 1988).

Sundborg (1956) used tax records to show

stream channel migration in Sweden. Landrent assessments in Norway allowed Grove

(1972) to reconstruct the incidence of Little

Ice Age mass movement and other natural

hazards. Local records, also in Sweden, were

used by Dearing (1979) to reconstruct

ploughed area and sheep population. These

were then related to sedimentation rates in

a local lake.

5 Aerial photographs

Aerial photographs dating from as earlyas 1917 have been used to document and

date fluvial changes along with the land-

use changes that were responsible (Rozin

and Schick, 1997). The general coverage

of stereographic aerial photography in the

USA dates from 193738, but limited cover-

age exists from c. 1925 (Trimble and Cooke,1991). Air photos generally date from the

mid-1940s in the UK (Hooke and Kain, 1982)

where Thornes and Brunsden (1977) have

shown the utility of repetitive coverage tomonitor mass movements. The value of

aerial photography is a function of scale,

photographic quality, and the availability

of stereographic coverage. With optimum

conditions, Hoag (1983) was able to use

standard photogrammetric methods to

quantify channel erosion in Orange County,

California, from 1938 to 1983. Significant

decreases of stream response in Wisconsin

have been inferred from striking decreases

in drainage density as measured from airphotos (Trimble and Lund, 1982; Fraczek,

1987; Figure 7), but Knighton et al. (1992)showed that tidal creek channel networks

were expanding after 1943 in northern

Australia. Air photos are extremely useful

in establishing rates of channel migration and

channel change (Schumm and Lichty, 1963;

Williams, 1978; Thorne and Lewin, 1979;


13/28


Anderson and Calver, 1980; Church, 1983;

Hooke, 1984; Kondolf and Curry, 1986;

Lawler, 1993; Brizga and Finlayson, 1994;

van Steeter and Pitlick, 1998; Burge and

Lapointe, 2005).

Stream and valley aggradation is difficultto detect on air photos, but some attendant

effects such as the creation of backswamps

and vegetational changes can be seen and

measured (Trimble, 1970b). On upland areas,

air photos have also been used to quantify

land use and consequent erosion (Trimble

and Lund, 1982; Rowntreeet al., 1991). Newmethods of processing data from historical

photographs give more precision and pos-

sibility of replication (Chandler and Cooper,

1989; Chandler and Brunsden, 1995; Brunsdenand Chandler, 1996). Using air photo cover-

age spanning the period 19182000, Zviely

and Klein (2004) demonstrated the rapid re-

treat of cliffs along the Israeli Mediterranean

coastline, while Guthrie and Evans (2004)

used air photos to document 201 separate

debris slides between 1950 and 1996 in British

Columbia.

6 Ground-based oblique photographyGround-based oblique photography has been

used to date geomorphological processes

dating back to 1864 (Costa, 1978). Although

not systematically available as aerial photo-

graphy, ground-based photography hasexisted longer and generally offers better

scale. Some major American sources are

given by Trimble and Cooke (1991), but quer-

ies should always be addressed to museums,

libraries, and individuals living in the region

being investigated. By far the most valuable

coverage is sequential photos at the same

place, known as time-lapse photography

(Hastings and Turner, 1965; Malde, 1973;

Rogerset al., 1984). Graf (1979a) has used such

imagery to show land use and consequentdevelopment of channels in montane val-

leys, arroyo filling and vegetational stabil-

ization (Graf, 1982), changes of bed material

in the Salt River, Arizona (Graf, 1983a), and

stabilization by vegetation of sediment

deposits along the Rio Grande River (Graf,

1994). Brizga and Finlayson (1994) demon-

strated similar stabilization along the Snowy

Figure 7 Decrease of drainage density, upper Coon Creek basin, 193878, as

reconstructed primarily from US Department of Agriculture aerial photographs.Analysis of drainage density and other data suggests that present flood peaks are onlya fraction of those of the late 1930s

Source:Adapted from Fraczek (1987).


14/28


River in Australia. Trimble and Lund (1982)

showed the formation and subsequent heal-

ing of hillside gullies in Minnesota and also

demonstrated the transformation of tri-butaries from sediment sinks to sediment

sources as stream response increased, while

Trimble and Crosson (2000) showed how

tributaries had improved in condition as

the result of better land use since the 1930s

(Figure 8). Ground imagery has been used by

Williams (1978) and Eschner et al. (1981) toshow changes of channel size and form for

the Platte and North Platte Rivers in the

central USA, while Williams and Wolman

(1984) demonstrated channel scour down-

stream of dams. Goudie (1992) used time-lapse photography to show changes in UK

beaches as the result of offshore shingle

mining and of jetty building. Trustrum and

DeRuse (1988) were able to date landslides in

New Zealand, while the destructive effects of

debris flows were documented in California

by DeGraff (1994). Enzel and Wells (1997)

used photographs in conjunction with

Figure 8 Time-lapse photography showing improvement of tributary stream channelconditions in the unglaciated region of Wisconsin. (A) Photo made by S.C. Happ in 1940to depict a typical tributary of the period. Note the eroded, shallow channel composedof gravel and cobbles with coarse sediment, much of it sand, deposited on floodplainsby frequent overflows. Such tributaries were described as resembling gravel roads.

(B) Remake by S. Trimble in 1974. The stream channel is narrower, smaller, and morestable. The coarse sediment has been covered with fine material, and the floodplain isvegetated to the edge of the stream which has continued to narrow. This condition hascontinued and improved since the early 1970s

Source: Trimble and Crosson (2000). Copyright: American Association for theAdvancement of Science.


15/28


Figure 8 (continued)

railroads and buildings to show the change of

playa water levels in California.

Photogrammetric techniques can alsobe used with oblique photography, making

it possible to obtain precise measurements

in some cases (Graf, 1979b; Lawler, 1993).

Using photogrammetry in conjunction with

planimetric maps, Hoel and Werenskiold

(1962) were able to measure glacier thick-

nesses in Norway. Oblique aerial photo-

graphy is also available for some areas but

does not lend itself easily to photogrammetric

methods (Trimble and Cooke, 1991).

Some investigators have used paintings

to extend time-lapse analysis to the scale of

centuries. Messerli et al. (1978) and Grove(1988) have used pictures to study glacial

advance and retreat over the past four cen-

turies. Indeed, Vita-Finzi (2002: 8384) states

that The acceptance of a Little Ice Age in

about 15501850 initially owed much to en-

gravings of Swiss settlements overwhelmed

by glaciers. Lamb (eg, 1982) and Ladurie

(1971) routinely used sketches and paintings

in their historical analyses of climate. Morerecently, Cooper (1994) used a detailed

painting to establish the 1847 morphology of

the Mvoti River estuary, South Africa, and

Madej et al. (1994) used old paintings of theMerced River in Yosemite Park, California,

to estimate long-term bank erosion.

7 LitterThe classic work on using litter in geomor-

phological investigations was done by C.B.

Hunt (1975) who worked in the American

desert. Litter includes mobile artifacts such

as tools, vehicle parts, bottles, cans, package

wrappers and any other datable artifacts.

Although litter may be precisely dated in

some cases, its location can only give an earli-

est possible date. For example, a beer can

datable to 1939 may have been dumped into

a stream in 1950 where it was later buried in


16/28


a point bar in 1952. The point bar may have

eroded away in 1960 and the can buried 20 cm

deep on a downstream floodplain. The only

allowable conclusion, in the absence of more

information, is that there has been a mini-

mum accretion of 20 cm at the final location

since 1939. However, finding several itemsat similar levels with similar dates might

allow a stronger inference, as when an in-

tact dump is located beneath a floodplain

(Costa, 1975).

A related method of tracing fluvial sedi-

ments and surfaces is by use of anthropo-

genically produced materials such as radio-

nuclides, heavy metals and other wastes (eg,

Davies and Lewin, 1974; Lewin et al., 1977;Wolfenden and Lewin, 1978; Bradley, 1982;

Macklin, 1985; Knox, 1987; Marron, 1989;Wallinget al., 1992; Rowan et al., 1999; seealso the excellent review in Graf, 1994).

8 Contemporary descriptionsGeomorphological changes in China have

been dated back as far as 2000 years using

written accounts (Ren, 1985; Yang, 1998).

For example, Zhang and Yang (1998) used

contemporary descriptions to show that over

a two-millennium period the Yellow River did

not entirely lose surface runoff until 1972, theresult largely of upstream dams. Xu (2004)

was able to explain that decrease based on

climate and flow diversions. On the Yangtze

River, Wang et al. (2005) were able to in-vestigate channel forms and processes from

1644. The utility of written accounts takes

two basic forms. The first is a description of

past events or changes, while the second is

the description of contemporary or baseline

conditions useful for later comparisons. For

veracity, one must consider (1) the scientificcredentials of the observer, and (2) the stage

of scientific development at time of obser-

vation. An example of an erroneous observa-

tion would be a nineteenth-century observer

attributing erratic rocks to the currents of the

biblical flood.

As an example of contemporary change

by a qualified scientist, one can do no better

than the famed English geologist, Sir Charles

Lyell, who in 1845 observed the early fluvial

consequences of agricultural settlement on

the Piedmont of Georgia, pointing out that a

stream from the settled areas was turbid but

that one from the primeval area was clear,

even during floods (Lyell, 1849).The American surveyor and naturalist

David Dale Owen (1847) furnishes an example

of a baseline scientific observation. Before

extensive agricultural settlement in the upper

midwestern USA, he could observe fish and

stream bottom formations in streams up

to several metres deep. This, of course, would

have been impossible during most of the

period since agriculture began. Observations

of John C. Fremont and G.K. Gilbert were

used by Atwood (1994) to establish theearly levels of Great Salt Lake in Utah, USA.

Accounts from scientific observers such as

these tend to be dependable and are often

extremely helpful. Observations from less-

qualified people also can be helpful, but may

need more qualification or interpretation

(Hooke and Kain, 1982). Travel accounts

of ordinary people were used to reconstruct

the size and condition of glaciers in Norway

during the eighteenth and nineteenth cen-

turies (Hoel and Werenskiold, 1962) and inthe Alps during the seventeenth century

(Ladurie, 1971). Liebscher (1991) gives an ex-

cellent account of attempts to reconstruct

river flood stages and lake and ocean levels

based in part on historical narratives. Trimble

and Cooke (1991) and Whitney (1995) give

many useful sources for travel accounts in

the United States and Canada.

Somewhat less valuable sources are

contemporary newspapers, periodicals,

books, government records and unpublishedmanuscripts. Wooley (1946) used newspaper

reports to establish numbers of floods in

Utah, 18501938, and related these to popu-

lation increases. Kondolf and Curry (1986)

used newspaper accounts to study channel

migration in California, while Knox (1987)

and Fitzpatricket al. (1999) used them toestablish historical floods in Wisconsin.


17/28


Trimble (1974) used newspapers and peri-

odicals to trace the progress and effects of

soil erosion on the Southern Piedmont during

the nineteenth century. Using newspaper

and other contemporary accounts, Nuttli

(1973) was able to construct an isoseismal

map of the Mississippi Valley (New Madrid)earthquake of 181112. Newspapers were

used to document mass movements in the

southern Appalachian highlands by Clark

(1987) and in Puerto Rico by Larson and

Simon (1993). James (2004) used local his-

tories to show the effects of tailing fans from

hydraulic mining in California. In Switzerland,

Heim (1989[1932]) used local history to

chronicle major landslides back to AD 1563.

9 Weather events and climateRecorded climatic records, especially regular

records kept by governmental agencies, are

often of exceptional value to geomorph-

ologists. Official climate records sometimes

go back to the mid-nineteenth century in

the USA and Europe, but scattered records

were collected earlier. Cooke and Reeves

(1976), in their analysis of arroyos in the

southwestern USA, were able to use early

climate records from US Army posts. Trimble

and Lund (1982) used official records to

analyse precipitation trends back to 1865 in

the upper Mississippi Valley, showing that

climate was distinctly out of phase with the

human-driven hydrologic and geomorphic

processes shown to be occurring. Hoel and

Werenskiold (1962) were able to show that

glacial advance and retreat in Norway were

in accord with climatic controls. An exem-

plary study by Rumsby and Macklin (1994)

correlates climate and channel changes from

1700 to the present in the River Tyne, UK,

while Merrett and Macklin (1999) did the

same for the Yorkshire Dales. Using 110 years

of climate data, Mountain and Jones (2006)

were able to forecast and hindcast the fre-

quency of extreme flows on the River Wye

in Wales. Hooke and Kain (1982) list private

diarists going back to 1337 who periodically

recorded British weather. H.H. Lamb

(eg, 1977; 1982; 1988) has been resourceful

and ingenious in reconstructing past climates

from highly varied historical sources in-

cluding official records when possible. His

synthesis of these techniques serves as a

model. The work of Parry (1978) is also ex-cellent. Workers in the UK are fortunate in

having much of the climate over the past

two centuries or so synthesized and quite

accessible to use (eg, Lamb, 1972; Kington,

1976; Lawler, 1987; Favis-Mortlock et al.,

1997). See also the review in Goudie (1992).

Particular storms may have significant

geomorphologic effects locally or over

larger areas. Engstrom (1994; 1996; 2006)

has reconstructed some major storms for

California showing some of the geomor-

phologic consequences. From written re-

cords of an earthquake that struck Japan

in 1700, Satake et al. (1996) were able to

reconstruct the general dimensions of an

earthquake.

Historical reconstruction of precipitation

has been extremely important in explaining

the historical formation or demise of arroyos

(Graf, 1983b). Examined have been long-

term annual trends, seasonality, frequency,

intensity, and, more recently, connections

with the Southwestern Monsoon and El

NioSouthern Oscillation events (eg,

Bryan, 1925; 1928; Thornthwaite et al., 1942;

Leopold, 1951; Cooke and Reeves, 1976;

Hereford, 1984; 1993; Balling and Wells,

1990; Webb and Betancourt, 1990; Hereford

and Webb, 1992; Betancourt and Turner,

1993; Bull, 1964; 1997).

10 Land use

Land use has been increasingly recognized

as a major causal factor in geomorphology.

For the UK, tithe, topographic, county and

Land Utilization Survey maps, some of which

go back to the early 1700s, are given excellent

coverage by Hooke and Kain (1982). For the

USA, Trewartha (1940) and Knox (1977) used

original plats of survey to establish primeval


18/28


vegetation in southwestern Wisconsin, while

Trimble (1970a) used them to study early

floodplain conditions in Georgia, showing

their genesis to wetlands. Graf (1979a) used

photography to reconstruct land use for a

basin in Colorado, 18591974, and then

related land-use changes to hydrologic andgeomorphic changes, specifically channel

incision. In the perennial and ongoing at-

tempt to explain arroyos in the southwestern

USA, Denevan (1967) and Cooke and Reeves

(1976) splendidly reconstructed livestock

numbers by census reports, travel accounts

and other sources. Both studies concluded

that animals were important but only one

of many causal factors.

Land-use reconstructions need to be as

precise as possible because (1) increasinglysophisticated information about the hydro-

logic and geomorphic effects of different

land uses and treatments is available, and/or

(2) we may be able to correlate historical

land use with contemporaneous geomorphic

phenomena in model building. An example

of the latter is Grafs (1979a) study which

related land use to channel incision. Another

example is the study of reforestation and

water yield decreases in the Southern

Piedmont by Trimbleet al. (1987) who wereable to use relatively precise census data.

Their long-term results of 10 large basins,

together with available short-term experi-

mental data, permitted a model which

explains 50% of water yield variance in

humid areas as a result of reforestation or

deforestation and is presently the standard

stochastic model (Maidment, 1993). Potter

(1991) was able to show a decrease in the

annual flood series of the Pecatonica River

in southeastern Wisconsin even though landuse held relatively constant. He attributed

the reduction of flooding to improvement of

land treatment with resulting decreases of

drainage density. Potters pioneering work

was followed by similar analyses in the same

region by Gebert and Krug (1996) and Knox

(1999). While controlling for climate with

historical climatic data, Price (1998) used his-

torical land-use data to show that an ameli-

oration of streamflow regime on the Georgia

Piedmont was culturally rather than physically

caused.

Detailed land-use reconstructions from

census data have been used to analyse his-

torical soil erosion and associated hydrologicchanges in the USA (Trimble, 1974; Price,

1998) and Canada (Wilson, 1989). Trimble

and Lund (1982) were able to show a lag of

hydrologic and geomorphic processes so

that there was a hysteretic relationship be-

tween land use and the dependent variables

of erosion and sedimentation. The lag was

attributed to cumulative temporal changes

in soil condition.

Agricultural census data are complex

and confusing because categories and de-finitions often change from one census to

the next. For the US census, at least, county

enumerations are for land in farms only

and sometimes cover only fractional parts

of counties. Where available, the census

manuscripts, rather than the published re-

ports, give far more detailed information

(Conzen, 1969). Another major problem

is that areas of enumeration units change

with time so that the boundaries and areas

must also be reconstructed (Trimble, 1974:Appendix F). Unfortunately, there are as

yet no guides to the use of census data in

reconstructing historic land use, and a great

need clearly exists. Despite all these problems

and limitations, Waisanen and Bliss (2002)

have recently succeeded in mapping by GIS

much of the agricultural land use for the

USA since 1850. Such mapping may fore-

shadow modelling of historical geomorphic

and hydrologic processes.

Urban land use is increasingly recognizedas a geomorphic factor. Cooke et al. (1982)and Cooke (1984) have shown the relation

between urban expansion and increased geo-

morpholgical activity. Trimble (1997; 2003)

showed that historical stream channel erosion

in southern California was associated more

with channel construction and agricultural

land use than with urban expansion.


19/28


Surrogates can sometimes be used to

extend land-use data beyond the effective

dates of the census. Thus, historic sheep

populations were estimated from the weight

of wool clipped each year (Noble and

Tongway, 1986) and erosive land use was

extended back in time by calibrating fromdensities of slave and non-slave populations

(Trimble, 1974). Such surrogate retrodictions

might be used for other historical data, but

caution must be used.

III Summary and conclusions

Although not always precise, historical data

and techniques can provide powerful tools

for dating processes over the past few cen-

turies and particularly during the last few

decades. This is important not only to more

traditional theoretical applications, but

also to considerations in environmental

management. Historical techniques can be

criticized (Richards, 1984), but the recog-

nition of their importance is shown by their

increased use and the fact that they are now

featured in standard texts (eg, Cooke and

Doornkamp, 1990; Ward and Trimble, 2004).

While this short paper has touched on most

major techniques used by historical geo-

graphers, there are often variants of each

not covered here. Geomorphologists would

do well to acquaint themselves with the

literature and techniques of both historical

geography and archaeology for their areas

of interest if they wish to extend their chron-

ologies beyond the few decades spanned by

instrumental records.

Acknowledgements

I thank Claudio Vita-Finzi (Natural History

Museum, London) and Ken Potter (University

of Wisconsin-Madison) for critiques of the

paper and Chase Langford (UCLA) for the

illustrations. Ron Shreve made suggestions

on sources. Early inspiration for historical

methods was provided by Karl Butzer, Louis

DeVorsey Jr, Herman Friis, and Claudio

Vita-Finzi.

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Documents

The Use of Historical Data and Artifacts in Geomorphology