494 NOTES

ADJUSTMENTS OF THE FLUVIAL SYSTEM. D. D. Rhodes and G. P. Williams (Eds), Proceedings volume of the Tenth Annual Geomorphology Symposium, Binghampton, New York, U.S.A., Kendall/Hunt Pub- lishing Co., Inc., Dubuque, Iowa, U.S.A., 1979. No. of pages: 372.

Since its inception in 1970, the Binghampton symposia series has developed a reputation as a forum for new ideas in fluvial geomorphology. The present volume is generally in keeping with that reputation. It also typifies two trends of the field, one being away from qualitative description and toward quantification and mechanistic explanation, and the other being in the direction of research that has practical applications. The first trend is quite healthy. The second trend is welcome as well, as long as mission-oriented work augments rather than dominates more basic research.

The work with a practical bent is indeed among the most interesting of the volume. The paper on channel adjustment to sediment pollution by the china-clay industry, by K. Richards, provides a fascinating case history of many of the effects of high silt-clay content on stream morphology that Schumm has outlined. Other papers outline the effect of logs on channel morphology (E. Keller and T. Tally), drainage adjustment to forest- fire devegetation (W. white and s. Wells), and the effect of urbanization on stream geometry (M. Morisawa and E. LaFlure). The paper by D. Bray and R. Kellerhals on the response of rivers to man-made changes is at least as interesting to geomorphologists as it is to engineers, because the geomorphic changes have occurred at fairly manageable time scales, allowing for detailed docu- mentation. This entire body of work should prove of interest to the environmentalist as well.

Several more of the studies provide detailed, quan- titative case histories of fluvial processes that have been heretofore either relatively ignored or inaccessible. The slack-water deposits of fine materials described by P. Patton, V. Baker, and R. Kochel occur at, for example,

the mouths of tributaries of fairly heavily-loaded streams at flood. The occasionally Brobdingnagian extent of the deposits is of interest. E. Andrews has been able to document a case where sediment-laden water originating from irrigation return has greatly increased the load of a stream without markedly increasing the water discharge. The effect of the alteration of a single independent variable on stream morphology is studied in detail. The study on bank processes and planform development due to C. Thorne and J. Lewin is likewise well worth detailed perusal. The papers by R. Sheperd and D. Lowe also discuss interesting examples of the dynamics of fluvial change. A. Harvey and his associates take focus on the problem of the overall effect of events of varying magnitude and probability on stream morphology via case-histories.

The first three papers, lumped together under the heading ‘fluvial theory’ are of rather more general scope than the rest and perhaps as a result appear to be diluted. W. Graf’s quite accessible explanation of catastrophe theory still does not give a firm answer as to what role it can play in the future. Both the paper by W. Osterkamp, and the one by C. Yang and C. Song contain debatable points, although the latter contains several interesting examples of stream response.

J. Bathurst’s paper on shear stress distribution osten- sibly has nothing to d o with fluvial geomorphology. However, it is precisely this kind of work that offers hope of linking morphology with fluid mechanics.

In a field which often has an overdose of hand-wavers, the quality of the volume as a whole is above- average. It would be hard t o make a sweeping recommendation to purchase it, as most of the papers are fairly specialized. The volume is, however, well worth several hours of perusal in a library, after which each reader can make his own decisions.

GARY PARKER St. Anthony Falls Hydraulic Laboratory

University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.

NOTES REPORT

The Third Meeting of the IGU Commission on Field Experiments in Geomorphology, 24-30, August 1980 in Japan

After meetings in France (1978) and Poland (1979), vention Research Institute of Kyoto University the IGU Commission on Field Experiments in organized the meeting in collaboration with several Geomorphology met again in conjunction with the 24th International Geographical Congress in Japan. Profes- The session began with two days of papers. Twenty- sor Setsuo Okuda and his staff from the Disaster Pre- five were presented, of these eleven by Japanese

colleagues from other Japanese universities.