Glacial Environments

Enhanced by many photographic illustrations of extraordinaryquality, this textbook will provide students with a completeintroduction to the scientific study of environments dominated by snowand ice. Glacial environments are scenically and scientifically amongthe most exciting on Earth, and at the same time they are among themost complex. Apart from the processes associated directly with movingice, other processes -- fluvial, acolian, lacustrine, and marine --frequently interact with ice. Glacial environments therefore exhibit awide variety of landforms and sediment associations. Today, some ten per cent of the land surface of the Earth is coveredby ice, whereas in the Pleistocene the figure exceeded thirty per cent.In earlier geological history, the Earth underwent glaciations ofcontinent-wide extent on several occasions, some of them even moreintense than those of the Pleistocene. By examining the processesoperating within glacial settings and their resulting products,Glacial Environments provides the foundation for investigationof both the ancient and the modern record. Emphasizing the range of erosional and depositional landforms,drawing on the older geological record, according due attention to theexciting recent developments in research on the marine environment,incorporating illustrations from both contemporary and ancientenvironments and covering all relevant parts of the world, thisattractive book will find a wide readership among students ofgeography, geology and environmental science.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Glacier dynamics 3. Glacier erosional processes and landforms 4. Environments of terrestrial glacial deposition 5. Glaciofluvial processes and landforms 6. Glaciolacustrine processes and sediments 7. Glaciomarine processes and sediments, Part 1: Fjords 8. Glaciomarine processes and sediments, Part 2: Continental shelfand deep sea environments Glossary Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Michael Hambrey is a professor of Quaternary Geologyat Liverpool John Moores University.

Review :
... an extremely ordered, comprehensive summary of the current understanding of glacial sedimentology ... the book is able to provide an understanding of modern glacial geology, which the reader can appreciate and comprehend through dozens of illustrations and photographs, many of which have been taken from Hambrey's own extensive field work, and often from well-known locations within the British Isles ... a fine review of contemporary knowledge in glacial geology and, through its descriptive approach, may prove to be an essential and popular undergraduate text. - Martin Siegert (Polar Record, January 1995) Photographs are numerous and outstanding; the line drawings are well executed. Hambrey is a distinguished glaciologist with unusually widespread field experience. His writing style is outstanding, and he has been meticulous in defining the often confusing array of terms and concepts in this research field. Excellent glossary; useful bibliography and index. - J.D. Ives (Choice)