Birkeland, Peter : University of Colorado at Boulder
Summary
Soils and Geomorphology, now in its third edition, remains popular among soil scientists, geomorphologists,
geologists, geographers, and archaeologists. While retaining the useful "factors of soil formation format,"
it has been extensively revised, incorporating a considerable amount of new research and offering a greater number
of topics and examples -- particularly in the chapters "Weathering and Soil Development with Time" and
"Topography: Soil Relations with Time in Different Climatic Settings." Greater emphasis is placed on
the role of dust in pedogenesis, and new data are included on tropical soil development, global soil-loess relations,
neotectonics, and reduction processes. The text discusses field applications such as the use of soils in recognizing
climate change, estimating the age of geological deposits, and dealing with environmental problems such as acid
rain. New "how-to" appendices on soil descriptions and calculating the profile development index are
also included. Soils and Geomorphology is an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students
in courses on pedology, soil science, Quaternary geology, archeology, and sedimentary petrology.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Definition of Soil
2. Soil Classification
3. Weathering Processes
4. The Products of Weathering
5. Processes Responsible for the Development of Soil Profiles
6. Factors of Soil Formation
7. Influence of Parent Material on Weathering and Soil Formation
8. Weathering and Soil Development with Time
9. Topography-Soil Relations with Time in Different Climatic Settings
10. Summary of Climate-Soil Relations, and Paleoclimatic Interpretations
11. Application of Soils to Geomorphological, Sedimentological, and Environmental Studies
Appendix 1. Describing Soil Properties, Horizon Nomenclature, Digging and Photographying Soils, Soil Properties
Appendix 2. Calculation of Profile-Development Index, Plotting and Comparing Soil-Index Data
