BOOK REVIEWS 185

Akerman, Western Canadian Arctic, by H. M. French, Northern Fennoscandia by M. Seppala and the Colorado front Range, USA by C. Thorn and D. Loewenherz, as an example of the Alpine periglacial regime, which by the way makes very interesting reading, and two on Pleistocene periglacial phe- nomena in Europe: North Central Europe by J . Karte and Belgium, The Netherlands and Northern France by A. Pissart. Although this section is very informative and could easily form part of a textbook, it i s difficult to see its relevance with respect to the main part of the book. This consists of 21 separate articles by different authors emphasising a variety of mainly inactive periglacial features and sediments in Britain and Ireland. The ’irrelevance’ of the first part of the book i s obviously reflected in the title. Moreover, since the majority of the papers in the second part i s unavoidably fairly descriptive, tentative and sediment-orientated, i t might have been better to choose a title like ‘Periglacial sediments (or environments) and landforms’ instead of processes. Only the contributions by Jerwood eta / . and Warburton really concern the study of processes based on laboratory and field experiments respectively.

Second, although all papers focus on periglacial features, several are strongly orientated towards a Quaternary and stratigraphic context, such that they could equally well have been included in a textbook on the Quaternary of the British Isles. Surprisingly, relatively little use i s made of recent North American and Society literature on geocryology in general, and the dynamics of frost action processes in particular. To some extent, this i s probably because many Europeans do not unfortunately have sufficient opportunity to familiarise them- selves with the actual periglacial domaine.

This reviewer agrees completely with Else Kolstrup, who states in her review of this book (Boreas, 1988, vol. 1 7, p. 164) that this type of paper compilation might better have been published as a special issue (or rather two separate issues) of a periodical. Of the five volumes, mentioned previously, that have been prepared under the auspices of the IGU Periglacial Commission, only the volume by Clark (1988) has the scope, consistency of content, and wide coverage of the periglacial field to merit a textbook. Only by very rigorous editing and additional choice of authors can symposia proceedings successfully be transformed into useful books.

Despite these critical comments the book certainly fulfils a purpose; it contains an interesting collection of periglacial studies, which is obviously well edited and adequately illustrated and documented. Typographically, the book is of high quality, but the price i s rather stiff. The introduction by J . Boardman clearly and succinctly outlines the scope and content of the book. The abstracts are informative and the texts are generally easy to read. However, it i s a pity that the abstracts are not followed by key words, the more so as the index, which is incomprehensibly short and incomplete, might as well have been omitted. The inclusion of key words would have made the information easily accessible for literature databases.

Under an introductory subheading the second part of the book contains three criticial reviews on the (still incomplete) stratigraphic framework of the occurrences of permafrost- related and other periglacial features in Britain (Worsley) and Ireland (Warren) and on the distinctive maritime periglacial regime that characterises the British uplands at present (Ballan- tyne). These papers contain a wealth of information, although the stratigraphic context is difficult to assess for readers outside the British Isles. Subsequently, 18 specialised papers are arranged under the following subheadings: (1) weathering and soils, ( 2 ) permafrost and ground ice, and ( 3 ) slopes, sediments and mass wasting.

Under subheading (1) one finds topics like field evidence and laboratory experiments on frost weathering of chalk (Williams,

Jerwood et al.), profile characteristics of soils outside the Late Devensian glacial limit (Catt), a variety of relict periglacial features in northeast Scotland (Fitzpatrick), experimental data on the formation of sorted stripes (Warburton), and modern and ancient rock platform erosion (Dawson eta/ . ) . It is a variegated collection.

Under subheading (2) there are 4 short papers by Bryant and Carpenter, West, Coxon and O’Callaghan, and Burton. Al l relate to thedifficulties in interpreting theexact origin of widely occurring, enclosed depressions. A variety of forms is tenta- tively attributed to a pingo or seasonal frost mound origin, and even icings and thermokarst forms like alases are suggested as modern analogues.

Under subheading (3) one finds 4 interesting and well- documented contributions on periglacial slope deposits by Harris, Scourse, Douglas and Harrison, and Hutchinson and Hight. Often referred to as ‘head‘, these deposits are mainly due to solifluction. These papers reflect the traditionally great interest in this part of periglacial research by British workers. These papers form one of the strong points of the second part of the book. Other contributions deal with topics such as: non-marine Mollusca as environmental and climatic indicators in periglacial deposits (Keen), the lithofacies characteristics of periglacial terrace aggradation (Dawson), and regional studies (Connell and Hall, and Quinn).

Given the heterogeneous nature of the material presented at the symposium Dr John Boardman i s to be congratulated in performing the formidable task of arranging the various contri- butions, and editing thevolume prior to publication. Despite its shortcomings the book is of interest to geologists, geomor- phologists, physical geographers and Quaternary scientists. It wi l l certainly find its way into most geolibraries, but i t i s a pity that the unfavourable value-for-money ratio wil l prevent many scientists from obtaining a personal copy.

References CLARK, M. I. (ed.) 1988. Advances inperiglacialgeomorpho/ogy. John

Wiley and Sons, Chichester, 481 pp. FRENCH, H. M. and KOSTER, E. A. (eds) 1988. Periglacial phe-

nomena: ancient and modern. Special INQUA issue, journal of Quaternary Science, 3, (1 ).

KOSTER, E. A. and FRENCH, H. M. (eds) 1988 (in press). Periglacial processes and landforms. Zeirschrift fur Geomorphologie Supplement band 72.

PECSI, M. and FRENCH, H. M. (eds) 1987. Loess and periglacial phenomena. Studies in Geography in Hungary, 20, Akademia Kiado, Budapest, 31 1 pp.

EDUARD A. KOSTER Geographical lnstitute

University of Utrecht The Netherlands

Biogeography and Quaternary history in Tropical Latin America T. C. WHITMORE and G. T. PRANCE

Publisher Oxford University Press 1987 f45.00 ISBN 0 19 854546 0

This book i s essentially about the ‘refuge theory’, which explains the present distribution of organisms in Tropical America by postulating that, during the Quaternary, the rain forest was split up into a number of separate refugia as a result of

186 JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE

arid climates. This i s an attractive theory which has been applied to birds, butterflies, reptiles and plants. There are indeed some correlations between the main species concentra- tions of these and deep forest soils which are presumed to be the locations of the Pleistocene refugia. Ultimately, the theory has been invoked to explain tropical diversity.

Unfortunately this theory is being ruined by over exposure before it has been adequately tested. Theories of refugia based on present day distribution have rarely stood the test of fossil evidence. In Europe the ‘Nunatak hypothesis’ and in North America the ‘Florida refugium’ have not been substantiated by later research. Furthermore, it seems unnecessary to involve historial explanations for distributions until the present environ- ment is unable to explain them. In Africa, for instance, the diversity of forest floras seems to relate directly to the present total annual rainfall. In any case the theory could only explain tropical diversity if it was shown to have properties which differ from refugial theories in temperate regions.

So far, only two Tropical American refugia have been tested palaeontologically. One was the proposed refugium on the Rancho Grande in Venezuela. The pollen record from Lake Valencia, at the foot of the range, shows that the area was exceptionally arid in the Late Pleistocene. The other was in eastern Ecuador where lowland rainforest was supposed to have survived on the lower slopes of the Andes. Fossil logs of fodocarpus showed that in fact Upper Montane rainforest had survived just a little higher up, implying a climate too cool for the lowland refugium.

The authors of this volume, which i s a collection of chapters by various writers, seem to be unaware of these difficulties. The review of the Quaternary evidence is rather dated: Hooghi- emstra’s work, published in 1984, is quoted in footnote. The chapter on plant distributions says that the theory has been criticised by only one botanist as if only botanists are eligible to do so. Criticism by biogeographers and by population biologists are, however, acknowledged in a final chapter. Curiously, geological criticisms are ignored.

Despite this, the book will serve a useful purpose for Quaternarists. Our subject has sometimes been lacking proper hypothesis testing. Here is a hypothesis just longing to be tested by empirical evidence. Clearly there must be some truth in it. The lowland rain forest has not arisen de novo in the Holocene, so it must have survived somewhere. Where, and under what circumstances, remains an enigma.

1. R. FLENLEY Department of Geography

University of Hull Hull HU6 7RX

England

Geomorphology and hydrology of karst terrains W. B. WHITE

Publisher Oxford University Press 1988 f35.00 (464 pp) ISBN 0 19 504444 4

This book provides an excellent introduction to the geomor- phology and hydrology of karst terrains. Its major strengths are the excellent organisation and structure, and clear explanation of karst processes in relation to landform development.

The first four chapters deal with the surface and underground features of karst terrains, and are essentially descriptive. They provide a clear, well-illustrated and structured account of karst landforms. Of particular merit i s the use of quantitative morphometric descriptions to define landforms and examine their spatial disposition in the landscape. This results in a unified terminology, which provides a base for later chapters, and eliminates many of the ‘grey’ areas associated with previous non-quantitative descriptions.

The approach underlying much of the second part of the book becomes clear in Chapter 4, where landscape evolution i s considered in terms of hydrogeologic setting and the variables controlling the chemical and physical forces driving erosion. Chapter 5 is an authorative account of the chemistry of limestone dissolution, which provides the base for modelling of the geochemical controls in subsequent chapters. This approach - description of basic physics-chemistry, develop- ment of a working model, application to understanding controls on karst phenomena - is seminal and works well.

Chapter 8 on ’Soils, sediments and depositional features’, may be of particular interest to Quaternary scientists, because of their potential for palaeoclimatic interpretation, especially in cave deposits. However, the emphasis is on the interior facies (deep cave), and the entrance facies which often offer the richest pickings, are dealt with in a single paragraph. This bias, a natural result of the authors interest, is also apparent in the choice of literature and examples to illustrate this (and other) chapters which is drawn largely from North America. None of the extensive archaeological studies on cage entrance sediments, for instance those from France (see Farrand, 1975; Laville 1976 for example), are included. One criticism of these studies is, however, that they lack an adequate process base, indeed it is clear reading this text that there i s a paucity of information on the present-day processes of non-carbonate sediment deposition in caves. Such studies are urgently needed if reliable interpretations are to be placed on Quaternary cave deposits.

Chapter 9 is an excellent review of the origin of caves (see also Ford, 1987), with the Quaternary theme being picked up again in Chapter 10- ’Karst evolution and Pleistocene history’. This includes a brief review of applicable dating methods, and the climate record in caves. While much of the former will be familiar, many workers will find the discussion of the palaeo- climatic analysis of speleothems and their fluid inclusions of interest. Again the inadequacy of present studies of clastic cave sediments is underlined, there meriting only one page com- pared to the seven devoted to speleothems. There is however potential for palaeohydrology studies, with analysis of hydraulic geometry, scallops and sediment size to yield palaeo- discharge values. A second important palaeohydrological link is between the caves, which may be well dated, and surface river terraces, which often are not. Indeed White suggests that the evolution of river basins may best be disentangled by geomorphological studies of caves. It is important also to remember that terraces are aggradational features, while caves are erosional; it is therefore to the cave sediments and more rarely passage morphology that one must look for correlations (Smart et a/., 1985), rather than simply the elevations of tiered fossil passages.

I was a little disappointed that the majority of the figures were drawn from previously published work, and not developed for the text. They are clearly reproduced as are the plates, although some of these are rather constrasty. At places the figures are placed rather distant from their text reference. For instance the cave surveys tended to lag consistently one or two pages behind their point of reference. These criticisms are however minor.