A bright future for old flows

The first part of this chapter briefly reviewed some of the methodology and results of recent fluvial palaeohydrological research. Judged within the framework of physical theory from other disciplines, it was an easy task to be critical. In contrast to certain trends in allied disciplines, the methodology in fluvial palaeohydrology is evolving in response to the nature of the system under investigation. For its continued health as a science, palaeohydrology should emphasis two goals: the development of accurate reconstructions of past hydrological conditions as a source of testing and verification of models for predicting hydrological change, and the discovery of the workings of important hydrological phenomena as elucidated by their operations in the past. -from Author