WILLIAM MORRIS DAVIS

William Morris Davis



William Morris Davis

Introduction

William Morris Davis is the single most influential geomorphologist to have written in the English language, and perhaps in any language. Given the enormous growth and diversity in the discipline, it is unlikely that anyone will ever again dominate it to the degree that he did. The primary component of his reputation is the creation and indefatigable proselytism of the geomorphic cycle, also known as the geographical cycle. The model attempts to provide a comprehensive theoretical explanation of the development of landforms and many of their individual elements during the perceived lengthy periods between regional uplifts. The model gained enormous, but not unchallenged, currency and represented the prevailing orthodoxy in the English world from about 1900 until around World War II. It was challenged in research circles starting just before the war and more vigorously thereafter; in some places it lingered longer, and in the realm of teaching, considerably longer.

Description and Analysis

William Morris Davis was a great promoter of geography, worked hard to increase its recognition. In the decade from 1890-1900, Davis was an influential member of a committee that helped establish standards of geography in public schools. Davis and the committee felt that geography needed to be treated as science general primary and secondary schools. Through their efforts these ideas were adopted. Unfortunately, after a decade of the "new" geography, slipped back to being dedicated to knowledge and disappeared eventually memorize names in the intestines of social studies. Davis was also an important driver and contributor to National Geographic Society, writing a number of articles for the magazine of the institution.

Davis was a prodigious worker, writing hundreds of articles, introducing well over 100 technical terms, accepting numerous speaking engagements on both the national and international levels, and conducting what today would probably be called outreach (i.e., talking to the non-scientific community). An additional personal attribute was his real flair for sketching. His beautifully conceived and executed diagrams essentially present his geomorphological ideas in a separate language (Dunn 2003, 90).

Whatever limitations are now assigned to Davis and his geomorphic cycle, it is appropriate to view the latter as a monumental intellectual achievement: influential when it dominated and also a powerful intellectual challenge to be satisfactorily met for those who followed and sought to modify the framework of geomorphology. Furthermore, Davis provided a powerful personal aura of scientific professionalism in an embryonic discipline.

Context and Objectives of the Geomorphic Cycle

The geomorphic cycle was launched into the scientific world at a time when Charles Darwin's work was an overt and pervasive influence. The “cycle” is largely biological in tenor. However, Darwin's concept of evolution, dominated as it is by the concept of randomness, was modified by Davis into a concept of inevitable change over time, that is, mathematical probability became deterministic. This was also the period when eustatic theory, isostasy, and epeirogeny were all in their introductory phases within geomorphology. Davis did not accept all these new ideas but clearly embraced some of ...