This six-volume set offers a comprehensive, unified and integrated treatment of all major rivers and estuaries of the contiguous United States. Describes the hydrology, chemistry and biology of rivers in natural circumstances. Includes numerous photographs, maps and graphs.

Dr. Patrick is a 1996 recipient of the President's National Medal of Science, the most prestigious scientific honor in American Science. She holds the Francis Boyer chair of Limnology at the National Academy of Sciences in Philadelphia.