King of the plains: Lester King's contributions to geomorphology

Abstract

Lester King was one of the most influential geomorphologists of the twentieth century. He based his interpretations of landforms and landscapes firmly in the concept of parallel scarp retreat, for although he acknowledged the possibility of slope decline in certain lithological and vegetational environments, he used the mechanism little, if at all, in understanding landscape. Rather, pediments and inselbergs, for instance, as well as entire landscapes, were construed in terms of scarp recession. King appreciated and emphasised the evidence provided by plains for the interpretation of landscape. He considered pediplanation (scarp retreat and pedimentation) to be active in all regions where running water is responsible for shaping the land surface. King's studies in denudation chronology are consistent with his commitment to scarp retreat, implicit in which is the possibility of the survival of very old surfaces; though whether old enough to match the realities of landscape is doubtful. King challenged the Davisian scheme of landscape evolution and offered an alternative model that has proved viable in many parts of the world. Whether pedimentation and scarp retreat are necessarily related is however questionable. King devised original explanations for several well known landforms, and though many of his ideas and interpretations have fallen by the wayside he stimulated many of his contemporaries critically to review their assumptions and explanations.