Quaternary Sediments: Petrographic Methods for the Study of Unlithified Rocks

Quaternary Sediments: Petrographic Methods for the Study of Unlithified Rocks (Second Edition), first published in 1991, remains the definitive text on the analysis of unlithified geological materials. The book considers how the information preserved in sediments, soils and weathering products may be used to reconstruct past environments. It describes and assesses physical and chemical laboratory procedures and shows how to interpret the results of these analyses. The application of each procedure to environmental reconstruction is stressed. Case studies, diagrams and extensive references provide further information.

The Second Edition is 17 per cent longer than the first. It contains new sections on errors and their analysis, on sampling procedures, and on handling and interpreting geochemical data. It also considers neglected properties such as loss on ignition and dry bulk density. These are frequently measured but under-interpreted and yet are often of critical significance in investigations of environmental change. The index has been updated and greatly expanded.

Stephen Gale graduated from the University of Oxford and completed his PhD at the University of Keele. He has held a series of teaching and research posts at the University of East Anglia; the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth; the University of Oxford; CCAT, Cambridge; the University of New England and the University of Sydney. He is currently Professor and Head of the School of Geography, Earth Science and Environment at the University of the South Pacific. His research has largely dealt with environmental change over timescales extending up to hundreds of millions of years. Most recently, however, he has concentrated on the environmental changes of the last few centuries, and the impacts of human activity during this time.
Peter Hoare graduated from the University of London and gained his PhD from the University of Dublin. His career includes laboratory work at Rothamsted Research, time spent with the British Geological Survey and teaching at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. He retired in 1999. He is currently an Associate Member of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain group, carrying out geological research that underpins the work of archaeologists. He is also studying the glacial history of eastern England, the life of a seventeenth-century Governor of Barbados and the orientation of medieval English churches.