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The encylopaedic dictionary of physical geography
231
Physical geography A. Goudie, B.W. Atkinson, K.J. Gregory, I.G. Simmons, D.R. Stoddart and D. Sugden (Editors), 1985. The Encyclopaedic Dictionary oJ Physical Geography. Basil Blackwell Ltd., Oxford, xvi + 528 pp., £stg. 40.00 (hard cover). In all, there are some 55 contributors to this substantive dictionary of physical geography, the entries of which run to 482 pages. This is perhaps the best dictionary of its type that I have seen. The volume starts with a six page list of abbreviations in physical geography, from AAR (Accumulation Area Ratio) to XRF (Xray fluorescence spectrometry). As is clearly stated in the preface, there are two "referencing" systems. Firstly, within an entry certain other entries are referred to in capital letters, and, secondly, there is a very comprehensive 445 page long index to the volume. Virtually all the entries are much more than a 'definition'. They often contain excellent illustrative material, clearly explained formulae where appropriate, cross-referencing to other entries and, at the end, a short reference list. For example, the entry under 'evapotranspiration' exceeds two full pages,
has illustrations of evaporation pans, percolation gauges and lysimeters, formula definitions of crop coefficient and potential evapotranspiration (including, of course, the Penman formula), and nine references cited for further reading. Throughout the text there are excellent photographic illustrations (of the order of one every ten pages), from the savanna in Argentina to sea ice in the Antarctic to the Kali Gandaki gorge in Nepal. The overall presentation of the volume is excellent, the entry layout, figure sizes and photographic material are extremely well coordinated, enhancing the prospect of this dictionary being well used by students both at school and university. Non-geographers may on occasion turn to a volume like this to assess the areas of geographical involvement. As such, this dictionary has both a breadth and depth of coverage that I feel does the subject full justice and is something that the editors are to be congratulated upon.
M.G. Anderson, Bristol
Planetary geology R. Greeley and J.D. Iversen, 1985. Wind as a Geological Process. Cambridge Planetary Science Series, 333 pp. 1985. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, xii + 333 pp., £stg. 35.00, US $59.50 (hard cover). For the past 45 years, the classic reference on the basic principles of aeolian processes has been Bagnold's book The Physics of Wind Blown Sand and Desert Dunes. By examining aeolian processes in a planetary context, Greeley and Iversen have not only built upon the theories and relationships advanced by
Bagnold in 1941 but have also extrapolated his results to other environments by attempting to forecast, for the first time, how aeolian processes are effected on Mars, Venus and, perhaps, Titan. The book, which focuses on comparative planetology, is structured in seven chapters. A general overview of aeolian processes on the planets is presented in Chapter 1. In the following two chapters the origin and properties of planet atmospheres and the physics of particle motion in disparate planet environments are discussed. Aeolian abrasion, ero-
Physical geography A. Goudie, B.W. Atkinson, K.J. Gregory, I.G. Simmons, D.R. Stoddart and D. Sugden (Editors), 1985. The Encyclopaedic Dictionary oJ Physical Geography. Basil Blackwell Ltd., Oxford, xvi + 528 pp., £stg. 40.00 (hard cover). In all, there are some 55 contributors to this substantive dictionary of physical geography, the entries of which run to 482 pages. This is perhaps the best dictionary of its type that I have seen. The volume starts with a six page list of abbreviations in physical geography, from AAR (Accumulation Area Ratio) to XRF (Xray fluorescence spectrometry). As is clearly stated in the preface, there are two "referencing" systems. Firstly, within an entry certain other entries are referred to in capital letters, and, secondly, there is a very comprehensive 445 page long index to the volume. Virtually all the entries are much more than a 'definition'. They often contain excellent illustrative material, clearly explained formulae where appropriate, cross-referencing to other entries and, at the end, a short reference list. For example, the entry under 'evapotranspiration' exceeds two full pages,
has illustrations of evaporation pans, percolation gauges and lysimeters, formula definitions of crop coefficient and potential evapotranspiration (including, of course, the Penman formula), and nine references cited for further reading. Throughout the text there are excellent photographic illustrations (of the order of one every ten pages), from the savanna in Argentina to sea ice in the Antarctic to the Kali Gandaki gorge in Nepal. The overall presentation of the volume is excellent, the entry layout, figure sizes and photographic material are extremely well coordinated, enhancing the prospect of this dictionary being well used by students both at school and university. Non-geographers may on occasion turn to a volume like this to assess the areas of geographical involvement. As such, this dictionary has both a breadth and depth of coverage that I feel does the subject full justice and is something that the editors are to be congratulated upon.
M.G. Anderson, Bristol
Planetary geology R. Greeley and J.D. Iversen, 1985. Wind as a Geological Process. Cambridge Planetary Science Series, 333 pp. 1985. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, xii + 333 pp., £stg. 35.00, US $59.50 (hard cover). For the past 45 years, the classic reference on the basic principles of aeolian processes has been Bagnold's book The Physics of Wind Blown Sand and Desert Dunes. By examining aeolian processes in a planetary context, Greeley and Iversen have not only built upon the theories and relationships advanced by
Bagnold in 1941 but have also extrapolated his results to other environments by attempting to forecast, for the first time, how aeolian processes are effected on Mars, Venus and, perhaps, Titan. The book, which focuses on comparative planetology, is structured in seven chapters. A general overview of aeolian processes on the planets is presented in Chapter 1. In the following two chapters the origin and properties of planet atmospheres and the physics of particle motion in disparate planet environments are discussed. Aeolian abrasion, ero-