Epilogue: personal reflection on geomorphology during 1965–2000 and geomorphological futures

Abstract

Abstract This chapter is a highly personal reflection on (a) my privileged life as a geomorphologist whose professional career spanned the period 1964–2004, (b) the forces that prevailed on the discipline of geomorphology from 1965 to 2000, (c) the extraordinary influence of individual scientists on my career as well as the discipline as a whole, (d) the many disciplinary paradigms that emerged during the same period and (e) some speculations about geomorphological futures. Geomorphological research and researchers of 1965–2000 were especially significant in relation to the long-term evolution of the discipline in three specific ways: (a) the quantitative revolution in geomorphology was consolidated, (b) new ways of understanding geomorphology were initiated and (c) old disciplinary paradigms were reinvigorated by the quantitative revolution and the newly initiated qualitative ways of understanding geomorphological reality. At the close of my speculation on geomorphological futures I make a plea for deeper geomorphological insight into the interdependence of landforms, landscapes and the well-being of society.