Rock Weathering

Rock Weathering and Landform Evolution brings together a series of important studies on rock weathering by leading researchers, and illustrates the diversity of approaches and techniques that are currently being used by geomorphologists to study weathering processes and responses. The book commences with a number of research studies and review chapters on weathering processes and weathered products. This is followed by several discussions of the weathering of cut or dressed rock in urban and coastal environments. Contributors then examine the application of weathering and weathering rates to the dating of deposits or rock surfaces. The final section of the book comprises studies of the relationship between weathering and landforms in a variety of climatic environments. The contributions included in this book cover a wide range of topics and demonstrate the many advances that are being made by researchers investigating rock weathering. Some of the studies deal with state-of-the-art technology, others the very traditional geomorphological skills of observation and deductive reasoning, backed up as necessary by statistical analysis. This volume is the first collection of papers on weathering published for many years, and provides a wealth of information not just to geomorphologists but also to geologists, engineers, architects and archaeologists.

Soil science is perhaps one of the oldest practical sciences, having been of concern to man probably from the time he progressed from a strictly preda tory life to one in which agriculture became important. In view of the anti quity of concern with the subject, it is perhaps surprising that it can be approached from a fresh viewpoint, as is done in this book. Because soil science is an applied science, it is not surprising that the approach is usually descriptive, rather than imaginative. For agriculturalists and other land users, perhaps the most important part of soil science is the description of soils and the capacities of such soils to maintain crops, and this is reflected by the fact that soil science is usually treated ima highly descriptive manner, with soil classification being one of the main efforts. The treatment of the subject from a geological point of view, with considerable emphasis on the evolution of soils and the reasons governing their composition and form, makes this a highly readable book. Books on soil science are timely, with present-day concern with such major problems as the pollution of our environment and the possibility of overreaching our capacity for producing food for an expanding population.

This is a discount Black and white version. Some images may be unclear, please see BCCampus website for the digital version.This book was born out of a 2014 meeting of earth science educators representing most of the universities and colleges in British Columbia, and nurtured by a widely shared frustration that many students are not thriving in courses because textbooks have become too expensive for them to buy. But the real inspiration comes from a fascination for the spectacular geology of western Canada and the many decades that the author spent exploring this region along with colleagues, students, family, and friends. My goal has been to provide an accessible and comprehensive guide to the important topics of geology, richly illustrated with examples from western Canada. Although this text is intended to complement a typical first-year course in physical geology, its contents could be applied to numerous other related courses.

This volume is intended to provide an up-to-date overview of the approaches, methodologies and techniques devoted to better understand-ing of the weathering conditions of rock masses on slopes. According to the local conditions, a variety of slope movements may take place and involve weathered rock masses. Shallow and rapid soil slips evolving to debris flows are probably the most common type of slope movement. At the same time, deep-seated, intermittent landslides can also affect large volumes of weathered rocks and soils. Despite the high frequency of landslides in weathered materials, and the damage and casualties they repeatedly cause, little is known about the relationship between weathering and slope move-ments. This book presents worldwide case studies, where a variety of geo-logical and geomorphological settings are discussed. The content is divided into three sections: the first is devoted to broad aspects of the weathering/landslide processes; the second and third sections include papers dealing with igneous/metamorphic and sedimentary weathered rocks, respec-tively.