The shape of Anthropocene: The early contribution of the water sciences

The conceptual history of the Anthropocene is well-known: after a few scattered appearances in Soviet literature, the term Anthropocene was reignited independently by Paul Crutzen during his famous intervention at the IGBP-SC meeting in Cuernavaca in February 2000. The standard narrative of the history of the term emphasizes the role of Earth System Science and geology in institutionalizing the term, and in paving the way for the term’s current popularity within and beyond the natural sciences. Yet this standard account misses a third important contribution to the earliest assimilation, spread, and evolution of the term in the scientific literature: the water sciences. The present contribution reconsiders the role of seminal papers, individuals, and disciplinary areas in the water sciences in the early conceptual history of the Anthropocene concept. The analysis draws on three main findings concerning the early appearance, assimilation, and application of the term in water sciences literature which has been largely overshadowed in existing accounts of the history of the Anthropocene concept. Discussing these literary sources at the intersection of conceptual history, history of science, and scientometrics, the research argues that the water sciences were crucial in the early assimilation and application of the Anthropocene as a suitable and useful category in the international scientific community. In doing so, the analysis also advances that the water sciences should be considered as the third vector (together with Earth System Science and geology) in reconstructing the earliest conceptual history of the Anthropocene.