JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE (1 996) 11 (2) 167-1 72 0 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Book Reviews

The last interglacial-glacial transition in North America Edited by P. U. CLARK and P. D. LEA

Publisher The Geological Society of America, Special Paper 270, Boulder, Co 1992 (317 pp) ISBN 0-8137-2270-5 f37.50

This volume derives from a symposium on the subject (taken to be 122-64 ka) held by the Geological Society of America in 1988. A few years delay in publication i s not unusual in such cases; note that most of the papers here were accepted in 1991. The delay has not affected the interest and useful- ness of the contributions, which cover the highly important matter of the change from the last interglacial to last glacial in the region dominated by the Laurentide ice-sheet and the Cordilleran ice-sheet. Considering the predominance of the Laurentide ice-sheet in contributing to global effects, such as, inter alia, sea-level fluctuations and the marine isotope ice volume signal, any student of these matters will have to take into account the facts described herein.

The contributions include an outline review of the period in North America, a historical review of Early Wisconsin glaciation (by R. P. Goldthwait, the doyen of North American glacial geology, to whom the volume is dedicated), matters of wide significance such as the marine isotope record, U- series dating of coastal sediments and ice-sheet initiation in relation to Milankovitch and global climate models, and finally reviews of the transition (glacial geology, stratigraphy, palaeontology, pedology) in significant areas, including the Canadian Arctic, areas across the glaciated region of Canada and the USA, the Cordillera and as far south as New Mexico. The reviews of the much-studied and classic sequences in Illinois and the Toronto area, for example, will be welcomed.

All the papers are extensive and valuable reviews, well- illustrated. They bring to mind especially the problems that face those attempting to link global changes to marine, coastal and continental sequences, and the absolute necess- ity for a reliable geochronology, often not available with the required accuracy. The discussions underline the difficulties of relating orbital forcing to ice-sheet growth in Oxygen Isotope Stage 5. There is evidence that the expansion of the northern margin of the Laurentide ice-sheet to its maximum extent took place during stage 5, whereas the southern mar- gin reached its maximum in stage2, although showing growth in stages 5 and 4. These matters are compared with data from the mountain glaciers and pluvial lakes of the west of the USA, where some ranges show evidence of Early Wisconsin maxima and others Later Wisconsin, differences that may relate to local climatic or hypsometric effects.

To have a survey of a continent in this way makes this volume an essential read for serious friends of the Pleisto- cene, and, with its reasonable price, it should be in all libraries that cater for Quaternary researchers.

R. G. WEST Godwin institute for Quaternary Research

Botany School Downing Street

cambridge CB2 3EA England

Morphological change in Quaternary mammals of North America Edited by ROBERT A. MARTIN and ANTHONY D. BARNOSKY

Publisher Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA. 1993 (415 pp)

The book presents a compendium of 16 papers presented at the symposium entitled Morphological Change in Quaternary Mammals of North America, held at Berry College, 9-10 April 1991. The papers present interesting examples of mor- phological changes in, mainly North American, mammals, but more importantly they review the present state of knowl- edge of the evolution of (Quaternary) mammals and provide interesting theoretical ideas about evolutionary processes.

The first, introductory, contribution ‘Quaternary mammals and evolutionary theory: introductory remarks and historical perspective’, written by the editors, gives a clear explanation of the aims of the symposium as well as their proceedings, including the terminology used in the volume as well as a review of evolutionary models, patterns and processes. The book presents not only case studies but also theoretical and methodological contributions, for example the papers ‘A method for recognizing morphological stasis’, written by Deborah K. Anderson, ‘Variogram analysis of paleontological data’, by Andrew P. Czebieniak, and a paper by Viriot et a/. in which they describe not only the ontogenetic change of muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) cheek teeth but also intro- duce image processing techniques for analysing these kinds of changes.

The case studies presented in the volume cover changes from the short, ontogenetic time-scale to changes occurring over millions of years (e.g. Adrian M. Lister, ’Evolution of mammoth and moose: the Holarctic perspective’; Larry D. Martin, ‘Evolution of hypsodonty and enamel structure in Plio-Pleistocene rodents‘). A number of the contributions clearly show that the study of morphological changes during the Pleistocene is very much hampered by the chronological resolution of our present dating methods for the time-range beyond l00000yr ago. Our knowledge may be good enough to use fossil mammals for biostratigraphical purposes, but the occurrence of complex mosaic patterns of episodic phyletic evolution (as reported by Robert A. Martin: Variation

168 IOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE

and speciation in rodents) can be observed only if we are able to date and correlate the Pleistocene faunas with more accuracy. This statement is under1 ined by the contribution of Philip D. Gingerich (‘Plio-Pleistocene rates of evolution’). Gingerich shows and concludes that the tempo of evolution- ary change can be extracted from stratigraphical sequences only if the population variation and geological age are known to reasonable approximation.

Distinct morphological differences that can be recognized easily in the fossil record generally reflect extreme ecological adaptations. However, morphological changes or character displacement also can be the result of interaction of compet- ing species. Dayan et a/. discuss the role of species interac- tion with regard to morphological change in Quaternary mammals, a role which I . . . has been largely neglected in the Quaternary fossil literature’. They state that size changes in the fossil mammals also should be studied in the context of changes in community composition. Studies that may explain, for instance, the temporal size trends that do not conform to independently recorded palaeoclimatic changes.

The combination of theoretical and methodological contri- butions with case studies, in which data are interweaved with interesting ideas about evolutionary processes, makes this book valuable not only for vertebrate palaeontologists but also for biologists concerned with evolution and the origin of biodiversity.

TH. VAN KOLFSCHOTEN Faculty Pre- and Protohistory

L eiden University P.O. Box 9515

2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands

Cold climate landforms Edited by D. J. A. EVANS

Publisher John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester 1994 (526 pp) f95/US$152 ISBN 0-471-94043-7

This weighty volume represents one of a series of ‘Classic Papers in Translation’ stimulated by the British Geomorphol- ogical Research Group. This series arose, according to the preface, from awareness that ‘the roots of geomorphology as a discipline in many countries can be traced back to the late 19th or early 20th centuries’, giving rise to a concern that the fruits of ’these lost decades‘ should be made avail- able to monoglot anglophones in English translations. It is clear from this volume, however, that the search for our intellectual roots has been interpreted somewhat differently by its editor, who through consultation with colleagues (based mainly in western Europe and North America) has sought to identify ‘benchmark’ papers on cold-climate geo- morphology with little concern for the supposed ‘lost dec- ades’. The 21 papers selected for inclusion were published between 1909 and 1992, and only three pre-date the Second World War. The sources of most are readily accessible. Ten papers are translated from French, eight from German, two from Polish and one from Russian. Given the editor’s aim of providing a ‘best attempt to provide a temporal and spatial representation of the literature’, the heavy bias towards those languages (French and German) most accessible to anglo- phones and the virtual exclusion of Russian research suggests that this aim has met with qualified success. The cynic

might also comment on the number of continental editorial advisers who are represented by papers in the collection. Given that this anthology can be regarded neither as a compendium of early papers of seminal importance, nor as geographically representative of the development of cold- climate geomorphology, its success must be judged on the intrinsic merit of its contents, and their usefulness to researchers in tracing the development of important con- cepts.

The book contains seven parts: permafrost landforms and regional reconstructions (five papers); periglacial geomor- phology (six papers); glacial and fluviglacial (sic) landforms (four papers); marine and lacustrine landforms (two papers); polygenetic landforms (one paper); cold climate slopes (two papers); and rock glaciers (one paper). In fact, all but the four papers relating to glacial geomorpohology, and a paper on saprolites (’polygenetic landforms’), could arguably be included under ‘periglacial geomorphology’ sensu fato. This bias-perhaps surprising to Anglo-American geomorpholog- ists-may be a reflection of the greater interest amongst continental European scientists in landscape evolution under periglacial rather than glacial conditions.

Each paper is prefaced by an ‘editor’s review’ that attempts to place its significance in context. Given the range of topics covered, this is an ambitious undertaking for one individual. Some of Evans’ reviews are authoritative and well-judged, but others prefacing periglacial papers indicate an incom- plete grasp of context, and a few are anodyne or potentially misleading. It might have been wiser to contract out some commentaries to specialists in the various fields represented.

Some of the periglacial papers are outstanding. S~lrensen (1935) presents a brilliant review of solifluction and pat- terned ground phenomena, which incorporates such con- cepts as frost-susceptibility, liquid limits, thaw consolidation, density stratification and free convection, and which seeks to present a unified model of thawing soils that explains both gelifluction and frost sorting. This little-known paper was decades ahead of its time, and casts many others in the collection into deep shadow. Tricart’s classic 1956 paper on experimental frost weathering is also well worthy of inclusion, not so much for its primacy in the use of labora- tory experiments (using a methodology now largely discredited), but for its synthesis of laboratory and field observations relating to the granulometry of weathering pro- ducts and their implications for frost-susceptibility, mass movement and slope form. Another highlight i s the recent paper by Bertran et a/. (1 992) on the genesis of grezes litkes, a skilful sedimentological analysis that links these features with present-day analogues involving shallow frost creep and gelifluction. Also well worthy of inclusion are Poser’s (1 948) seminal attempt to reconstruct pleniglacial climate in Europe on the basis of relict periglacial phenomena, Troll’s (1 948) update on his 1944 classic Strukturboden, Solifluktion und Frostklimate der E rdGa lively account, dominated by terminological debate and Troll’s particular orocentric view- point-and Rapp’s (1957) excellent early paper on debris cones, progenitor of much that was to follow. It is good to see in translation the influential paper by Boch and Krasnov (1 943) on cryoplanation terraces, even though its assump- tions regarding the role of frost shattering may no longer be regarded as acceptable. Barsch’s (1 969) excellent paper on the Macun rock glaciers is also a fine choice. Probably also deserving of inclusion are Guilcher’s (1950) account of cryoplanation in Brittany and Devonshire and Pissart’s (1 963) paper on supposed pingo remnants in Wales and Belgium, as both papers were precursors of subsequent research on such phenomena in western Europe. Dionne’s (1 973) paper