He published over 100 papers in scholarly journals, and several books, including Origin of Sedimentary Rocks (1972, second edition 1980; with H. Blatt and R. Murray), Mechanics in the Earth and Environmental Sciences (1994; with P.R.
In sedimentology, his most influential publications were on turbidity currents and their deposits, and on the origin of physical sedimentary structures and textures.
He organized the Congress of the International Association of Sedimentologists, held at McMaster in 1982, and attended by 1200 registrants from 42 countries.
Another Canadian geologist Joseph William Winthrop Spencer (1851–1921; born in Dundas, ON) was the subject of a more extensive study.
He has also published historical studies of geologists elected the Royal Society of Canada during its first fifty years, and the history of the earth sciences during the twentieth century.