Journal of Arid Environments (1994) 28:75-83

Book reviews

Abrahams, A. D. & Parsons, A. J. (1994). Geomorphology of Desert Environments. London: Chapman & Hall. ISBN 0-412-44480-1. + 674 pp. illustr. (Hbk) £85"00

How many books are conceived as a bright idea around the camp fire on a pleasant field trip? Geomorphology of Desert Environments commenced in this fashion in April 1988, and has trundled forward at a mean speed of one third of a page a day, to publication nearly 6 years later. The editors, Athol Abrahams & Tony Parsons, must have wondered what they have let themselves in for at times, and we must certainly admire their fortitude. In the interim the perceived void in desert geomorphology texts has been filled by Dave Thomas' Arid Zone Geomorphology (1989), a multi- authored work, and Cooke, Warren & Goudie's encyclopaedic Desert Geomorphology (1993). These books have set high standards and, at under £25 each for the paperback editions, moderate prices to future competition. Faced with this fait accompli Abrahams & Parsons have gone for the high ground in their preface: 'Arid Zone Geomorphology and Desert Geomorphology .... are primarily written for the college student. By contrast the present volume assumes that the reader already has some knowledge of desert geomorphology. It is pitched at a level somewhat higher than the standard text and is intended to serve mainly as a reference work'. A first flick through the book will show that it is geographically dominated by North America, west of the Great Divide, with occasional excursions to Australia and the Sahara - - not much here for those interested in the Sinai, the Karoo or the Gobi. Again the editors justify: 'The bias was perhaps inevitable ... because modem research in desert geomorphology published in English is dominated by investigations conducted in the deserts of the American South-west'. There will be derisive hoots at this statement from the many geomorphologists, working in the extensive craton-based deserts of the world, who believe, with some justification, that the American Southwest is a very singular environment, and that its contributions to the debate are of no more than passing interest. However, it is this aspect of the book which gives it appeal, and will dictate its success in the market place.

Geomorphology of Desert Environments is certainly a large and handsome volume. It contains 26 chapters written by a strong team of 22 authors, produced in a double-column format with small but easily readable typeface, and over 400 figures. The content is arranged into eight sections, entitled the Introduction, Weathering, Hillslopes, Rivers, Piedmonts, Lake Basins, Aeolian Surfaces and Climatic Change. Within this broadly thematic framework the authors have been given much latitude in their approach to the headings. Some have written reviews of specific landforms and processes, which may or may not be wholly within an American context, whilst others have taken a wider brief and examined regions, (Theo Oberlander on the comparison of the American with other deserts), or timeframes, (Martin Williams on Cenozoic change). The coverage is thus neither comprehensive nor consistent. This in itself is not necessarily a problem, but can become so given the very basic index and absence of cross-referencing between chapters.

The main advantage of the unconfined approach is that it allows the contributor to pursue his or her field of expertise without too much editorial control. Here there are good, in-depth treatments of many aspects of desert geomorphology, which, although they may cover familiar and oft-reviewed territory, strive to be different in both presentation and illustration. Included in this category are the chapters on duricrusts (John Dixon), rock slopes (Alan Howard and Mike Selby) and pediments (John Dohrenwend). There are also interesting chapters on topics rarely aired, such as Carolyn Francis' contribution on plants on desert hillslopes and John Thomes' succinct summary of microscale catchment hydrology. In the final section of the book on Climatic Change there are also some incisive contributions (Ian Reid on river landforms, Vatche Tchakerian on aeolian sediments), but by this time the subject area has become so broad that the focus is lost. There are also neglected aspects. For example, with the exception of one or two sections in chapter 17 (aeolian sediment transport), there is very little on aeolian fines, and it is certainly surprising, in a volume celebrating the contributions of the American South-west, to see no mention of P6wCs (1981) Desert Dust. Again, mention is made in far flung paragraphs of the role of groundwater in canyon and badland genesis, but not of pans and depressions. Given the findings of Wood & Osterkamp (1987) in southern Texas it is disturbing to see pans attributed to an almost entirely deflationary origin

0140-1963/94/010075 + 09 $08'00/0 t~) Academic Press Limited

76 BOOK REVIEWS

(p. 532). Even in the three chapters on lake basins (chapters 15, 16 and 24), devoted entirely to examples from the south-west U.S.A., groundwater is barely mentioned. Will Geomorphology of Desert Environments achieve its aims? In the last decade the subject has advanced beyond the realms of a single definitive text, no matter how well written, and in this sense the book will be the victim of its own ambition. However, it succeeds in condensing, for the first time, the American contri- bution and viewpoint to the subject. As such it earns its place on the library shelf.

References

Cooke, R., Warren, A. & Goudie, A. (1993). Desert Geomorphology. London: UCL Press. 526 pp. Prwr, T. L. (Ed.) ( 1981 ). Desert Dust. Geological Society of America Special Paper No. 186.000 pp. Thomas, D. S. G. (Ed.) (1989). Arid Zone Geomorphology. London: Belhaven Press. 372 pp. Wood, W. W. & Osterkamp, W. R. (1987). Playa-lake basins on the southern High Plains of Texas

and New Mexico: part 2. A hydrologic model and mass-balance arguments for development. Geological Society of America, Bulletin, 99: 224-230.

Paul Shaw University of Luton

Beaumont, P. (1993). Drylands Environmental Management and Development. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-09663-4 xix + 536 pp. 123 Figs. £17-99 (Pbk).

This is a long overdue paperback edition of Peter Beaumont's book on drylands first published in 1989. The book is largely unchanged, although the final chapter, focusing on the future of drylands has been much expanded. The book is divided into three sections comprising 13 chapters. In the first section, entitled Systematic Study of Drylands, a general overview of dryland environments is given, outlining how they are defined, the climate, soils, flora and fauna that characterize these areas, the way in which drylands are used by traditional and modern societies, and intensive and extensive use ofdrylands. The latter two chapters consider urban development, irrigation, mineral exploitation, as well as rain-fed agriculture and pastoralism. They are illustrated using brief case studies.

The second section (chapters 5-12) forms the bulk of this book and consists of a series of case studies which consider regional resource management in drylands. Chapters five to seven focus on pastoralism, river basin development and oases respectively. Each chapter is split in two, giving an example from the developing and then developed world. The next five chapters comprise a single case example and provide a more detailed insight as to how drylands in different regions have been exploited. Each chapter follows a similar pattern outlining the settlement history of the region, how a specific resource is developed and environmental problems associated with the exploitation of these areas. The case studies Beaumont out ~lines consider the problems of water availability in the High Plains of the U.S.A., the impact that economic development has had on the Gulf region, the development of an integrated water system in Israel, water in (former) Soviet Central Asia, and finally environmental management problems in Los Angeles. Most of these case studies are interesting, informative and well written which should provide undergraduates with an excellent start point for a more in-depth study of a given topic. However, I found some of the material given to be rather peripheral to the main theme of the book. This is particularly true of the chapter on Los Angeles which included a large section on the problems of air pollution.

The final section of this book entitled Prospect, considers the future of drylands. This chapter has been expanded from its original five pages of over 20. Here the author outlines some of the problems that dryland regions may face in the light of increase population pressure and climatic change. Unlike the rest of the book, which is largely informative in nature, this chapter tries to be a little more analytical and provides the reader with some insights as to what the author feels regarding the current situation in drylands.

My overall impression of the book is that it is extremely readable and remains a very useful undergraduate textbook. However, I think it is a great shame that the author/publisher have not taken the opportunity to update this book. In the preface, which remains unchanged from the original edition, the author's hope is that the book will stimulate interest in the world's drylands. Since it was first published in 1989 there has been considerable amounts of research in dryland areas, yet in the bulk of this book the literature is ignored. It is only in the final expanded chapter that any