Customer Reviews

Tectonic Geomorphology

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A new 274-page book on tectonic geomorphology has been authored by Douglas Burbank of the University of California at Santa Barbara, and Robert Anderson of the University of Colorado. Tectonic geomorphology is a new branch of geology that evaluates the "unrelenting competition between tectonic processes that tend to build topography, and the surface processes that tend to tear them down."

This affordable soft-bound book is organized into 11 chapters, as follows: (1) Introduction, (2) Geomorphic Markers, (3) Establishing Timing in the Landscape - Dating Methods, (4) Stress, Faults, and Folds, (5) Short-term Deformation - Geodesy, (6) Paleoseismology, (7) Rates of Erosion and Uplift, (8) Holocene Deformation and Landscape Processes, (9) Deformation and Geomorphology at Intermediate Time Scales, (11) Numerical Modeling of Landscape Evolution.

The book is targeted for upper-division undergraduates, first-year graduate students in geology, and for working engineering geologists who need an update in tectonic geomorphology. There are 461 references, most of them within the past five years, so the book contains a robust foundation of new citations that will be particularly useful for students.

The authors include nine developments that have driven rapid changes in tectonic geomorphology: new age-dating methods, process-oriented geomorphic studies, new insights into past climatic change, new geodetic tools (like GPS), paleoseismology methods (like trenching of active faults), new ability for physical characterization of faulting and folding, new digital topographic methods (like GPR), and accessibility to high-speed computing for numerical modeling of geomorphic processes.

The geomorphic concepts explained in the text are shown in 295 line-drawings or sketches (black & white) that have been carefully redrawn for clarity from the original sources. There is minimal use of field photographs, and no color is employed. Instead, the authors utilize drawings, graphs, cross sections, and simplified maps to convey geomorphic concepts. Quantitive methods are emphasized, yet the book is not burdened by difficult higher mathematics.

"Tectonic Geomorphology" is highly recommended for the following reasons: (1) understandable explanations of complex geologic processes are provided in clear diagrams, (2)world-wide examples are used, (3) modern interdisciplinary approaches are emphasized, (4) a robust bibliography is provided, and (5) the book is affordable and represents "good value" for students and working professionals alike.

Tectonic Geomorphology