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QUATERNARY
RESEARCH
10,
135-139 (1978)
BOOK REVIEWS Periglacial Processes. Benchmark Papers in Geology, Vol. 27. Edited by C. A. M. King. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Inc., Stroudsburg, Pa., 459 pp.
A series of benchmark papers is meant to reflect historical milestones in the development of a subject. These may be either significant advances of a substantive or theoretical nature or may mark the commencement of new avenues of scientific endeavour. Periglacial Processes, the latest in the Benchmark Papers in Geology series falls short of these objectives and fails to do justice to the very significant advances made recently in the field. At a time when there is increasing interest in permafrost regions and when our understanding of frost action and permafrost-related processes is accelerating at an everincreasing rate, it is unfortunate that an opportunity to place these new developments in their proper historical perspective has been lost. Criticisms can be leveled in two general directions: first, at the overall choice of papers, and second, at the editors commentary by which the inclusion of any particular paper is justified. For example, this collection of papers, purportedly dealing with our understanding of periglacial processes, does not include even one paper published by either a Soviet or Polish scientist. This exclusion ignores the detailed and voluminous permafrost literature existing in the Soviet Union and downgrades the overwhelming influence of Polish geomorphologists in the study of periglacial environments. Regarding the Soviet literature, technical translations of certain papers are now available, notably those by the National Research Council of Canada, and a wealth of information is now easily accessible and widely disseminated by the volumes accompanying the First and Second International Permafrost Conferences, held at Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind., in 1963, and Yakutsk, U.S.S.R., in 1973. Regarding the Polish work, a characteristic has been a willingness to publish in other languages, particularly English and French. However, none of the very influential and extensive writings of J. Dylik, for many years editor-in-chief of the Biuletyn Peryglacjalny and Chairman of the IGU Commission on Periglacial Geomorphology, has been included in this volume. Furthermore, periglacial geomorphology developed historically as a branch of climatic geomorphology, and the input of continental Europeans such as J. Budel, A. Cailleux, J. Tricart and C. Troll is not recognized. A second broad criticism is that the volume tends
to neglect many of the more recent advances made in our understanding of permafrost-related processes. For example, none of the recent, post-1965 work of J. R. Mackay, published mainly in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, is included. Yet his series of papers upon the permafrost and ground-ice conditions of the Mackenzie Delta must surely be recognized as an outstanding example of detailed quantitative field investigation which, over a decade, has culminated in significant theoretical advances. Equally sad is the treatment given to fluvial processes. Two pages from E. de K. Leffingwell’s 1919 paper describing aufeis are followed by a general and obscure paper dealing with the aggradation of streams under periglacial climates. When the editors’ commentary is included, a grand total of 11 pages out of a total of over 400 is devoted to fluvial processes. Such a brief treatment, while reflecting an obvious neglect of fluvial processes in the past, does nothing to remedy this deficiency. For example, the nature of fluvio-thermal erosion, first described by H. J. Walker in 1963 from the Colville Delta of Northern Alaska, ought to have been included. Also missing is the work of M. Church who, between 1964 and 1970, pioneered the use of quantitative hydrologic techniques in the study of High Arctic streams. These criticisms become more apparent when the individual papers and the overall plan of the book are considered. A total of 36 papers, either in full or in part, are grouped under six headings: frost action and ground ice formation, mass wasting, snow action, wind action, fluvial action, and marine action. The papers themselves constitute approximately 80% of the volume with the editorial commentary at the beginning of each section making up the remainder. Less than half of the papers would be regarded by this reviewer as being benchmark papers. Some deal primarily with morphology rather than process, some are of a review nature, and others must fairly be regarded as of only local importance. The first section, dealing with frost action and ground ice, contains a number of true benchmarks, notably the early observations of E. de K. Leffingwell upon permafrost and ground ice, the paper by A. Lachenbruch dealing with thermal contraction cracking, the experimental work upon frost heave and sorting by S. B. Taber and A. Corte, respectively, the two papers by A. L. Washburn upon patterned ground classification and origin, and J. R. Mackay’s 1962 pingo paper in which the closed system hypothesis is first fully developed. The remaining papers in this section are not in the same category, although wellresearched. In the opinion of this reviewer, a number 135 0033-5894/78/0101-0135$02.00/O Copyri&t 0 1978 by the University of Washington. AU rights of reproduction in my form reserved.
RESEARCH
10,
135-139 (1978)
BOOK REVIEWS Periglacial Processes. Benchmark Papers in Geology, Vol. 27. Edited by C. A. M. King. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Inc., Stroudsburg, Pa., 459 pp.
A series of benchmark papers is meant to reflect historical milestones in the development of a subject. These may be either significant advances of a substantive or theoretical nature or may mark the commencement of new avenues of scientific endeavour. Periglacial Processes, the latest in the Benchmark Papers in Geology series falls short of these objectives and fails to do justice to the very significant advances made recently in the field. At a time when there is increasing interest in permafrost regions and when our understanding of frost action and permafrost-related processes is accelerating at an everincreasing rate, it is unfortunate that an opportunity to place these new developments in their proper historical perspective has been lost. Criticisms can be leveled in two general directions: first, at the overall choice of papers, and second, at the editors commentary by which the inclusion of any particular paper is justified. For example, this collection of papers, purportedly dealing with our understanding of periglacial processes, does not include even one paper published by either a Soviet or Polish scientist. This exclusion ignores the detailed and voluminous permafrost literature existing in the Soviet Union and downgrades the overwhelming influence of Polish geomorphologists in the study of periglacial environments. Regarding the Soviet literature, technical translations of certain papers are now available, notably those by the National Research Council of Canada, and a wealth of information is now easily accessible and widely disseminated by the volumes accompanying the First and Second International Permafrost Conferences, held at Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind., in 1963, and Yakutsk, U.S.S.R., in 1973. Regarding the Polish work, a characteristic has been a willingness to publish in other languages, particularly English and French. However, none of the very influential and extensive writings of J. Dylik, for many years editor-in-chief of the Biuletyn Peryglacjalny and Chairman of the IGU Commission on Periglacial Geomorphology, has been included in this volume. Furthermore, periglacial geomorphology developed historically as a branch of climatic geomorphology, and the input of continental Europeans such as J. Budel, A. Cailleux, J. Tricart and C. Troll is not recognized. A second broad criticism is that the volume tends
to neglect many of the more recent advances made in our understanding of permafrost-related processes. For example, none of the recent, post-1965 work of J. R. Mackay, published mainly in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, is included. Yet his series of papers upon the permafrost and ground-ice conditions of the Mackenzie Delta must surely be recognized as an outstanding example of detailed quantitative field investigation which, over a decade, has culminated in significant theoretical advances. Equally sad is the treatment given to fluvial processes. Two pages from E. de K. Leffingwell’s 1919 paper describing aufeis are followed by a general and obscure paper dealing with the aggradation of streams under periglacial climates. When the editors’ commentary is included, a grand total of 11 pages out of a total of over 400 is devoted to fluvial processes. Such a brief treatment, while reflecting an obvious neglect of fluvial processes in the past, does nothing to remedy this deficiency. For example, the nature of fluvio-thermal erosion, first described by H. J. Walker in 1963 from the Colville Delta of Northern Alaska, ought to have been included. Also missing is the work of M. Church who, between 1964 and 1970, pioneered the use of quantitative hydrologic techniques in the study of High Arctic streams. These criticisms become more apparent when the individual papers and the overall plan of the book are considered. A total of 36 papers, either in full or in part, are grouped under six headings: frost action and ground ice formation, mass wasting, snow action, wind action, fluvial action, and marine action. The papers themselves constitute approximately 80% of the volume with the editorial commentary at the beginning of each section making up the remainder. Less than half of the papers would be regarded by this reviewer as being benchmark papers. Some deal primarily with morphology rather than process, some are of a review nature, and others must fairly be regarded as of only local importance. The first section, dealing with frost action and ground ice, contains a number of true benchmarks, notably the early observations of E. de K. Leffingwell upon permafrost and ground ice, the paper by A. Lachenbruch dealing with thermal contraction cracking, the experimental work upon frost heave and sorting by S. B. Taber and A. Corte, respectively, the two papers by A. L. Washburn upon patterned ground classification and origin, and J. R. Mackay’s 1962 pingo paper in which the closed system hypothesis is first fully developed. The remaining papers in this section are not in the same category, although wellresearched. In the opinion of this reviewer, a number 135 0033-5894/78/0101-0135$02.00/O Copyri&t 0 1978 by the University of Washington. AU rights of reproduction in my form reserved.