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The zone where land and sea meet is composed of a variety of complex environments. The coastal areas of the world contain a large percentage of its population and are therefore of extreme economic importance. Industrial, residential, and recreational developments, as well as large urban complexes, occupy much of the coastal margin of most highly developed countries. Undoubtedly future expansion in many undeveloped maritime countries will also be concentrated on coastal areas. Accompanying our occupation of coasts in this age of technology is a dependence on coastal environments for transportation, food, water, defense, and recreation. In order to utilize the coastal zone to its capacity, and yet not plunder its resources, we must have extensive knowledge of the complex environments contained along the coasts. The many environments within the coastal zone include bays, estuaries, deltas, marshes, dunes, and beaches. A tremendously broad range of conditions is represented by these environments. Salinity may range from essentially fresh water in estuaries, such as along the east coast of the United States, to extreme hypersaline lagoons, such as Laguna Madre in Texas. Coastal environments may be in excess of a hundred meters deep (fjords) or may extend several meters above sea level in the form of dunes. Some coastal environments are well protected and are not subjected to high physical energy except for occasional storms, whereas beaches and tidal inlets are continuously modified by waves and currents.
The plate tectonics revolution in the earth sciences has provided a valuable new framework for understanding long-term landform development. This innovative text provides a comprehensive introduction to the subject of global geomorphology, with the emphasis placed on large-scale processes and phenomena. Integrating global tectonics into the study of landforms and incorporating planetary geomorphology as a major component the author discusses the impact of climatic change and the role of catastrophic events on landform genesis and includes a comprehensive study of surface geomorphic processes.
The new edition of Arid Zone Geomorphology aims to encapsulate the advances that have been made in recent years in the investigation and explanation of landforms and geomorphological processes in drylands. Building on the success of the previous two editions, the Third Edition has been completely revised and updated to reflect the latest developments in the field. Whilst this latest edition will remain a comprehensive reference to the subject, the book has been restructured to include regional case studies throughout to enhance student understanding and is clearly defined into five distinct sections; Firstly, the book introduces the reader to Large Scale Controls and Variability in Drylands and then moves on to consider Surface Processes and Characteristics; The Work of Water, The Work of the Wind. The book concludes with a section on Living with Dryland Geomorphology that includes a chapter on geomorphological hazards and the human impact on these environments. Once again, recognised world experts in the field have been invited to contribute chapters in order to present a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of current knowledge about the processes shaping the landscape of deserts and arid regions. In order to broaden the appeal of the Third Edition, the book has been reduced in extent by 100 pages and the Regional chapters have been omitted in favour of the inclusion of key regional case studies throughout the book. The Editor is also considering the inclusion of a supplementary website that could include further images, problems and case studies.
In the 75 years of the existence of this book the content and boundaries of sedimentary petrology have increased enormously. It is doubtful if there are any areas of the subject described by the original authors which have remained untouched by the relatively recent onslaught by countless sedimentologists, aided by a veritable armoury of sophisticated techniques. Particular areas have always waxed and waned in popularity and some subjects, such as heavy mineral studies which have been successively popular, then unpopular, appear of late to have had a new lease on life. The development and application of relatively old techniques, but now used in a sedimentological context, often brings an upsurge and revival of interest in some rocks. Isotope work has now become an integral part of the study of pelagic and phosphatic sediments, and carbonate cements. An understanding of burial diagenesis, a much neglected area, is slowly coming to the fore as electron microscopes and X-rays delve into the mineralogical and textural complexities of ancient sediments. Yet, despite the 'zapping' of minerals with electron beams and generating gases to pass into a mass spectrometer, to paraphrase an erstwhile research student of mine, the danger of this approach is that materials are analysed with scant regard to field relationships or petrographic control, thus much genetic information is missing when interpretations are attempted. Petrography is far from being archaic.
Papers cover the entire spectrum of eolian investigations, ranging from the microscopic level to regional synthesis as well as ancient eolian deposits and their interpretation.
This book, first published in 1986, stems from the 1986 Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium. The topic was chosen because of the advances in the study of aeolian processes and landforms, particularly in the area of desertification, and the papers collected here clearly indicate that their study is not constrained by discipline boundaries but are of interest to geologists, physical geographers, soil scientists, meteorologists and engineers.