The Canadian School of Hydrogeology: History and Legacy

In the early 1960s, some young earth scientists in the Canadian Prairies discovered a previously unrecognized aspect of subsurface hydrology: topography-induced ground water flow systems. With seminal contributions by colleagues in Canada and abroad, the concept evolved into a new hydrogeological paradigm, spawned a veritable school of scientific thought, and, by the 1980s, had changed the scope of hydrogeology. Rapid developments of such far-reaching consequences are infrequent in the histories of scientific disciplines. The purpose of this brief retrospect is to record the chief factors and circumstances that produced the paradigm shift and the modern scope of the discipline.