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This is an introduction to wave and tidally dominated landforms, including beaches, cliffs, dunes, estuaries, mudflats and salt-marshes. Working from basic principles the author discusses the physical mechanisms by which this wide variety of landforms is produced and maintained. ... Read more

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The science of physical hydrology centers on the physical principles involved in the study of the occurrence and movement of water on and beneath the earth's surface. Because of its far-reaching implications for other disciplines, physical hydrology is of interest to students in fields ranging from the environmental sciences to engineering, policy studies, and even law.

In this introductory-level text the authors begin from the premise that the complexities of modern hydrology can be mastered by understanding basic physical principles of fluid movement. Focusing first on analysis at the scale of a single watershed, they then introduce the mechanics of fluids in closed conduits and open channels. They reevaluate catchment processes in light of fluid mechanics, open channel hydraulics, and groundwater flow. In a concluding chapter, they stress the importance of understanding water movement in the environment by exploring the relationship of hydrology to such disciplines as atmospheric science, ecology, and geology.

Accompanying the book is a CD-ROM, which provides a Web version of the text (Netscape Navigator 2.0 or later required). Included are video demonstrations, additional content and interactive review questions, and extensive links to facilitate study and review. Instructions for using the Web version are included. Also on the CD-ROM are simulation tools to study hydrological processes (MATLAB student version 5.0 required).

Customer Reviews (4)

Great introductory text
You'll need adequate background in calculus and maybe a bit of physics to get anything from the book, but overall it is a very good introductory text for people coming to physical hydrology from another hard science or engineering discipline.Like most other professions, hydrology is very jargon-y, and the book does a decent job of matching words to concepts.The glossary in the back helps with that as well.

I was very impressed with with section on floods.This chapter serves as an example of the overall strength of the text.It goes over the various types of hydrographs, gives plenty of definitions, shows illustrations and examples, and also goes over in minor detail, the physics involved in flooding.

The book comes with a CD with problem sets as well as the full text.In general the problem sets are helpful.

Physical Hydrology
This book is perfect for the determinist hydrology. Some applications are joined to this book in a CD.
Good luck for the water scientists.

Excellent book by any standard
This is a sort of elementary textbook, and should help biologists, chemists, environmentalists, and geologists to obtain fundamentals of hydraulics and hydrology. I am a professional hydrologist, but still enjoyed reading that book. The main value is in proper selection of the subjects, and exceptionally clear explanation. Reading other books, many a times I had a feeling that the author had not fully understood the subject. The authors of Elements of Physical Hydrology have a great talent to make any subject simple, and they know what they are talking about. Excellent book!

Cutting-edge technology textbook will set the trend for 2000
This book comes with an accompanying CD-ROM that contains the entire book, as well as powerful features that cannot be used within the constaints of paper and ink.Movies, appendices, internet links, and real-time mathematical models can be run in the context of a well-written text.Helpful interactive end-of-chapter Q/A sections and the ability to search though the text or automatically click linked words to see their definition in the gloassary is yet unparalelled in today's classrooms.A must have just for the approach to teaching! ... Read more

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Including recent research findings from terrestrial satellite imagery, the study of planetary landscapes, and advances in laboratory work, this also covers the environmental processes involved in desertification and the solution of planning and ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

worth about 4 bucks
When I purchased this book I believed I was getting Geomorphology in Deserts by Cooke and Warren, which is a very comprehensive and thorough discussion of the subject. This book is a pamphlet that skims the surface and is likely sufficient if you want to know the names of some desert features but are not as interested in understanding their formation. An adequate four dollar field guide, spend anymore and you will feel cheated as I do ... Read more

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This textbook provides a modern, quantitative and process-oriented approach to equip students with the tools to understand geomorphology. Insight into the interpretation of landscapes is developed from basic principles and simple models, and by stepping through the equations that capture the essence of the mechanics and chemistry of landscapes. Boxed worked examples and real-world applications bring the subject to life for students, allowing them to apply the theory to their own experience. The book covers cutting edge topics, including the revolutionary cosmogenic nuclide dating methods and modeling, highlights links to other Earth sciences through up-to-date summaries of current research, and illustrates the importance of geomorphology in understanding environmental changes.Setting up problems as a conservation of mass, ice, soil, or heat, this book arms students with tools to fully explore processes, understand landscapes, and to participate in this rapidly evolving field. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Geomorphology as a mature science
I have seen the future (of geomorphology) and it's in this book.

Today the emphasis in geomorphology is on understanding of the processes. This book focuses on those processes with quantitative description/explanation being the objective. The list of topics is reasonably complete (view the Table of Contents). Some topics such as "Tectonic Geomorphology" and "Dating Methods" are a bit unusual but reading the chapters leaves no doubt about their permanence in this book.

The things I believe will cause this book to be widely used are the layout, the depth of the quantitative/mathematical explanation of processes, and the chapter problem sets.

Each chapter begins with a half-page overview that should help focus the reader on the intended reason for that chapter's existence. At the end of each chapter is a one page summary that puts major points made in the chapter into perspective. Finally, each chapter has a problem set with mainly quantitative problems , but some thought questions requiring integration/extrapolation of material from the chapter. There are none of the classic topographic map or aerial photo type questions. That shouldn't present a problem in the classroom as older faculty surely have their own favorites of these.

Historically geomorphology has been largely a descriptive science with math limited primarily to quantifying the description. Here the math is in the nature of explanation - much as it would appear in a physics or engineering text. Opening the book randomly (P. 333), in a discussion of landslides I find an explanation of failure angle as a function of the angle of internal friction. For geology students it is of more than passing interest that the fields of geomorphology and structural geology overlap. On page 377 a problem statement is: "Consider a thin flow of water on a smooth slope. The slope is 10 deg., and the thickness of the flow is measured to be 4 mm. Calculate the mean speed of the flow and assess whether the flow will be turbulent or laminar." Hello - geomorphology meets sedimentology.

I like the book - I like it a lot. But there are a couple of points that I found to be disappointing.

There is no glossary. Having been in the classroom for several decades now both as student and teacher I have learned to look first at the table of contents then the glossary. Due to the mathematical/engineering nature of this book the glossary is less necessary than it would be in a more classic approach, however I still think it is needed. And with text in digital form, construction of a glossary (preferably with page references so it also functions as an index) is only an editing job.

Because of my own history with geomorphology I would have liked to see at least a brief discussion of two topics. Despite the incompleteness of Davis' model of youth-maturity-old age, that generalization still has a great deal of utility and should be in the working toolkit of every student of geomorphology. Being a geologist one of the primary reasons I want my students to study geomorphology is to learn what the landforms reveal about the structure/stratigraphy of the bedrock. Though both of these items are present "between the lines" I think students should be introduced to them face-to-face.

Faculty considering this text are likely to face three major concerns:
1) "Missing material" - the classic and geologic stuff mentioned above
2) Student weakness - The text will provide a considerable challenge to students' knowledge/proficiency in math, physics, and chemistry.
3) Faculty weakness - The text will provide a considerable challenge to faculty knowledge/proficiency in math, physics, and chemistry.

In 1961, Adrian Scheidegger's "Theoretical Geomorphology" introduced the mode of analysis now brought to fruition in "Geomorphology: The Mechanics and Chemistry of Landscapes. If you realized as I did upon seeing that embryonic work that it was pointing to the future of geomorphology you'll be delighted to see in this book the same in early maturity.

I recommend this book without reservation for serious students and researchers in geomorphology as well as for persons venturing into the study of landscapes from the more quantitative branches of science. As an introductory text, the decision will depend strongly on my concerns #2 and #3 listed above.


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A typology of experimentation in the field of geomorphology. This typology is then applied to problems of total drainage basin change and subsets of processes of change associated with slopes and channels.
Contents: Introduction; The nature of geomorphic field experiments; Drainage basin studies; Rapid mass movement; Surface wash; Fluvial geomorphology; ... Read more

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The landscape of England and Wales is full of variety, a type of landscape unparalleled anywhere else in the world. In this comprehensive study Andrew Goudie gives an account of how and why such a complexity of land forms evolved, under the pressure of natural influences since prehistoric times and under the ever-increasing impact of human activities which have disturbed the environmental balance of both our land and sky. This book, illustrated throughout, offers an up-to-date account of the physical geography of England and Wales. It covers the geomorphology and geology of the area, showing how they are interrelated. ... Read more

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Physical sedimentology is essentially an observational science. It is important to not only look hard at and think about sedimentary rocks and modern sediments and processes in the field, but also to strengthen one's intuitions and resolve one's uncertainties by frequently experimenting in the laboratory. This book sets out in a logical way the basic information that a senior undergraduate and immediate postgraduate needs to know of general physics, in order to understand the smaller-scale detrital sediments. It includes a large number of laboratory experiments to illustrate the theories described. This book should be of interest to senior undergraduates, immediate postgraduates. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Indispensable Classic
An absolute must for anyone studying sedimentology at the graduate level.Although the most recent printing is not a new edition (simply a reprint of the 1985 edition), this text is still close to the state of the art in physical sedimentology.Don't expect to find brilliant prose -- this is a technical text, after all -- but the quantitative and qualitative descriptions of sediment processes are lucid.Illustrations and diagrams are basic and could be improved, but Allen's text remains at the least a valuable reference. ... Read more

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This laboratory manual contains a variety of practical exercises in physical stratigraphy and sedimentology. Although intended to follow the organization of the author's Basics of Physical Stratigraphy and Sedimentology, the book is flexible enough to be used with virtually any text or teaching approach. In each of the seven chapters, exercises are preceded by background material that discusses the theory and principles related to the topic, including numerous diagrams, charts, formulae and classification schemes. Topics include stratigraphic principles and correlation, texture and grain size analysis, sedimentary structures, and rock descriptions and stratigraphic columns. Varying in length and complexity, the exercises can be used with the limited rock and sediment collections at most colleges and universities. ... Read more

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The surface of the Earth is and always has been in flux, constantly being remodelled by powerful natural forces. This text explores the processes and evidence of change, explaining how to recognize past events in the rocks, guiding through geological time to recreate past landscapes, and illustrating agents of erosion such as water, wind and ice sculpting solid landscapes, rocks amd materials recycling at the Earth's surface, and human impact on global cycles and climate change. This book complements the exhibition entitled "Restless Surface" in the Earth Galleries at the Natural History Museum, London. ... Read more

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California Rivers and Streams provides a clear and informative overview of the physical and biological processes that shape California's rivers and watersheds. Jeffrey Mount introduces relevant basic principles of hydrology and geomorphology and applies them to an understanding of the differences in character of the state's many rivers. He then builds on this foundation by evaluating the impact on waterways of different land use practiceslogging, mining, agriculture, flood control, urbanization, and water supply development.Water may be one of California's most valuable resources, but it is far from being one we control. In spite of channels, levees, lines and dams, the state's rivers still frequently flood, with devastating results. Almost all the rivers in California are dammed or diverted; with the booming population, there will be pressure for more intervention.Mount argues that Californians know little about how their rivers work and, more importantly, how and why land-use practices impact rivers. The forceful reconfiguration and redistribution of the rivers has already brought the state to a critical crossroads. California Rivers and Streams forces us to reevaluate our use of the state's rivers and offers a foundation for participating in the heated debates about their future. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

revew of CA rivers and streems book
This book arrived in a timely manor and everything was as it was supposed to be.

Heated Debates about the Future of CA's Watersheds
I can do no better than the hydrogeologist Syndnor in summarizing the utility of this introductory work. My only critique is that Mount needs to revise the chapter on climate and consider projected impacts on CA's surface water based on what we now know after 13 years of data collection.
Just as Knox needs to revise his primer Global Climate Change and California (1992).

Excellent Comprehensive Book on California Rivers
California Rivers and Streams: the conflict between fluvial processes and land use, Dr. Jeffrey F. Mount, 1995, University of California Press, 359 pages

California geologists, engineers, environmental planners, and the general public will enjoy reading this comprehensive book on California rivers.The author is Dr. Jeffrey Mount, who holds the Roy J. Shlemon Chair of Geology at the University of California, Davis.Dr. Mount is the Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis.He has formerly served on the Reclamation Board within the California Resources Agency.

With a heightened sense of public concern about flooding, water supply, levee repair, fish habitat, and river restoration, this book on California rivers is the best general primer that is currently available.Although not designed as a textbook, California teachers may find it suitable for introductory courses because of its comprehensive scope and highly readable narrative.

The book is divided into two parts.Part 1, How Rivers Work, includes:Chapter 1, Introduction to the rivers of California; Chapter 2, Water in motion, Chapter 3, A river at work ¯ sediment entrainment, transport, and deposition; Chapter 4, The shape of a river; Chapter 5, Origins of river discharge; Chapter 6, Sediment supply; Chapter 7, River network and profile; Chapter 8, Climate and the rivers of California; Chapter 9, Tectonics and geology of California's rivers.

Part 2, Learning the Lessons:Land Use and the Rivers of California, includes:Chapter 10, Rivers of California ¯ the last 200 years; Chapter 11, Mining and the rivers of California; Chapter 12, Logging California's watersheds; Chapter 13, Food production and the rivers of California; Chapter 14, A primer on flood frequency ¯ how much and how often? Chapter 15, The urbanization of California's rivers; Chapter 16, The damming of California's rivers; and Chapter 17, The future ¯ changing climate, changing rivers.

Review by Robert H. Sydnor
California Certified Hydrogeologist #6
LM-AEG, LM-AAAS, LM-AGU, M-GSA, M-AGWA

Best book for anyone living near or any way connected to H20
This book will answer any questions you have and then answer all the questions you are too dense to think of. Anyone living in California should be forced to read this. River runners also benefit from this book that shows the correct fleuvial processes, unlike many kayaking/rafting books. Read it, get on the water and then fight for the rivers!

Great review of how rivers work with a sense of humor
This is a subperb review of how rivers systems work and how man-made changes effect these systems.Perfect for the interested layperson interested in earth science.The second half of this book covers the majorwatersheds of California. ... Read more

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This volume presents the final report of Project 24 of the International Geological Correlation Programme.The publication is drawn from the contributions of leading individual scientists as well as from scientific research teams.It reflects the present state of knowledge of the Quaternary glaciations in the Northern hemisphere and their correlation in space and time as well as providing a unique summary of climatic change.A wealth of information is presented in over 50 articles and 19 large format charts, including an overall correlation chart. ... Read more

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Here is a guide to the most beautiful and important sites of geological interest in England and Wales. Grouped by region, with clear topographical and geological maps, it may be used as a field-guide by students of geology and geography. ... Read more

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This is a two volume set consisting of "Modern Glacial Environments" and "Past Glacial Environments". ... Read more