The morphology of rivers and deltas, like many features of the Earth’s physical geography, is today subject to dramatic and rapid changes due to human actions. Deprived of sediment from their basins and besieged by rising sea levels, many deltas are at risk of complete disappearance. Despite a rich historical scholarship on rivers, we know little about the history of these important geomorphological processes. This paper sheds light on the geomorphological history of rivers by investigating the case of the Po River basin and its delta during the twentieth century. By combining the insights of fluvial geomorphology and a historical methodology, the paper analyses three main drivers of geomorphic alterations in the catchment that had an impact on the delta: hydroelectricity, sand and gravel mining, and methane extraction. In each case, it focuses on how experts, policy-makers, and overseers understood and regulated (or not) these geomorphic alterations. During much of the twentieth century, engineers and hydrologists monitored geomorphic processes with increasing detail, while state and business actors practiced multiple forms of sediment management. For most of the twentieth century, however, experts did not acknowledge the scale and nature of human-induced geomorphic alteration. Sediment management, moreover, did not take into account sediment scarcity until late in the century, and remained exclusively motivated by local concerns. Through this particular case, this paper offers insights on the historical limits to environmental expertise and policy when facing long term and large-scale geomorphic processes, and encourages a more sustained incorporation of fluvial geomorphology into the history of water systems.

his article explores the relationship between disasters and the population movements through two case studies: the 1908 Messina earthquake and the 1968 Belice Valley earthquake. These are two of the major Italian earthquakes of the twentieth century, which occurred in two different parts of Sicily. The first one struck the city of Messina, at the time one of the largest urban centers in the whole of southern T

Sediment is an essential component of water and river systems. The anthropogenic alteration of sediment fluxes in the world’s rivers is one of the principal markers of the Anthropocene, the new geological epoch characterized by human influence at the planetary scale. In spite of its environmental and historical importance, water and river histories have surprisingly neglected sediment until recently. This introduction to the special issue “The Social Life of Sediment” argues for putting sediment at the center of social and historical inquiry and discusses the potential and value of such an approach. To do so, we introduce the concept of the “social life of sediment,” that is, the idea that the existence and movement of sediment is entwined with social needs, values, and activities, and needs to be appraised in his historical dimension. We review recent literature in fluvial geomorphology, social sciences, and history to assess to what extent the social and historical life of sediment has been taken into account. After this interdisciplinary review, we present the seven papers of the special issue and highlight their major insights to the study of social and historical lives of sediment. We conclude by outlining avenues for further research and by summarizing what we all can gain from putting sediment at the center of historical inquiries.

Research on the coast has highlighted the role of mass tourism as a driver of littoral urbanization. This article emphasizes the role of public policy by focusing on Languedoc-Roussillon in Mediterranean France. This littoral was the target of a state-driven development initiative known as Mission Racine, which aimed to promote the growth of what was seen as a backward area via the development of seaside tourism. For that purpose, the Mission promoted coordinated interventions including forest management, eradication of mosquitoes, construction of resorts, and transport infrastructure. This large-scale redevelopment significantly reshaped the littoral environment, severely impacted pre-existing forms of coastal activities and launched a new tourism industry. The legacy of the Mission, however, also included innovative land-use planning, which established protected areas and sought to contain urbanization. This case study illustrates the ambiguities of public policies for the coast, which can act alternatively as drivers of development or conservation and at times of both, and therein lies the importance of a contextual analysis of their role.

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