BOOK REVIEWS
points out research needs that will keep researchers busy for
years. My complaints or quibbles are few. One may argue, for
example, that animals moving material a few metres
downslope is not really ‘denudation’. In dealing with effects
of burrowing animals, Butler dwells on excavated material
and gives short shrift to subsidence and tunnel collapse, but
this may reflect the available research. I was dubious of
Butler’s claim that beavers are, after humans, the most
effective geomorphic agents. Although he makes a good
case, I remain unconvinced that beavers are more effective
than domestic grazing animals and, perhaps enigmatically,
soil fauna.
This last criticism brings me to my last observation – the
limited scope of the book. Notwithstanding the book title,
Butler has made his scope clear and has done a fine job within
those limits. However, at this juncture in the development of
biogeomorphology, a book synthesizing the wider field of
zoogeomorphology would have been a far greater
contribution. In my view, perhaps the most important fauna
are the soil fauna of all kinds and sizes which so greatly affect
the porosity and hydraulic conductivity of soil, and thus
indirectly affect geomorphological process. Butler touches
on this, especially in his excellent sections on burrowing
animals, but he could have done a great service in integrating
this considerable and little-known literature. In dropping
bioturbation he also dropped a significant topic.
Coincidentally, more soil scientists are now recognizing the
major, perhaps overwhelming, role of fauna in soil processes
(e.g. Paton et al., 1995). The deletion of domestic grazing
animals is the other serious omission because of their direct
geomorphological effects, and because they affect not only
the physical qualities of soil but also the effectiveness of soil
fauna, with attendant direct and indirect effects. Had Butler
SOLUTE MODELLING IN CATCHMENT SYSTEMS
edited by Stephen T. Trudgill, John Wiley & Sons,
Chichester, 1995. No. of pages: xii + 473. Price: £70.00 (hb).
ISBN 0-471-95717-8.
This book is described as an internationally authored text,
aimed at providing a synopsis of developments in solute
modelling in catchment ecosystems in the last ten years or so.
I believe it is a valuable text which goes some way to
fulfilling these objectives. The book is split into six sections:
an overview; weathering and soils in solute modelling;
ecosystem processes in solute modelling; hydrological and
hydrochemical process in solute modelling; solute models
(finally!); and model utility. The separation of the
manuscripts into these sections appears to have been totally
arbitrary. In the overview section we are treated to model
descriptions that are supposed to form the background to the
following papers. Such reviews are notorious for being as dry
as a mouthful of sand, and unfortunately this is no exception.
It should really have been considerably shorter and more
focused; it reads rather like an introduction to a doctoral
thesis. The chapter on interactions between ecosystem
processes and weathering processes stands out as being rather
isolated, being sandwiched between two manuscripts on
701
dealt with these topics, he would easily have doubled the size
of his book but, more importantly, he would have made a
good book into a magisterial one, perhaps the ‘Leopold,
Wolman and Miller’ of zoogeomorphology.
Butler is rarely critical towards his sources, but his book
implicitly, and perhaps unconsciously, makes an important
critique of existing zoogeomorphological literature – there is
almost no theory nor broad analytical thinking. The book
contains hardly a graph or equation showing geomorphic
relationships, for example invoking biomass, climate, land
use or some systematic variable. Again, this reflects the field
and not Butler’s reporting. Perhaps the message should be the
need to promote more systematic thinking in this field. In
conclusion, Butler has written a book which, while limited in
scope, is a fine piece of workmanship which will be read by
all who are even remotely interested in zoogeomorphology. It
should be an informed stimulant for years to come.
REFERENCES
Hupp, C. R., Osterkamp, W. R. and Howard, A. D. (Eds). 1995.
Biogeomorphology, Terrestrial and Freshwater Systems, 26th
Binghampton Symposium in Geomorphology, Elsevier,
Amsterdam, 347 pp.
Paton, T. R., Humphries, G. S. and Mitchell, P. B. 1995. Soils: a
New Global View, Yale University Press, New Haven.
Thomas, J. B. (Ed.) 1990. Vegetation and Erosion – Process and
Environment, John Wiley, Chichester.
Viles, H. A. (Ed.) 1988. Biogeomorphology, Basil Blackwell,
Oxford.
S. W. TRIMBLE
Department of Geography
University of California, USA
predicting nitrate concentrations in stream-waters. I still can’t
quite understand why it was not included in the appropriately
titled ‘weathering and soils in solute modelling’ section.
Also, the chapter about the water quality model MAGIC is
somewhat disappointing. The most recent reference quoted is
from 1990, which is not consistent with the editors’ claims
that the book is up-to-date. Unfortunately, researchers
wanting more recent information about this universal model
must look elsewhere.
In general, however, most of the chapters are of a high
standard, and there are some notable contributions within the
book; I was particularly impressed with the two papers on
isotopes and tracer studies which form a succinct review for
post-graduate level students. Personally, I found one of the
most useful background papers was a well written text
entitled ‘Basic principles of frequently used models’. As the
author highlights, models can represent the synthesis of our
understanding of how we perceive systems to function, and
they have a significant role to play in hypothesis testing and
highlighting areas of uncertainty in our understanding. They
also serve another important function, namely to bridge the
gap between research scientists and the broader concerns of
policy-makers and resource managers. This chapter raises
important issues about the constraints as well as the benefits
of systems modelling.
702 BOOK REVIEWS
Finally, I think that this book would have benefited from
the inclusion of a chapter on aspects of temporal and spatial
scaling, given that this is a question that modellers are
constantly addressing in order to maximize the value of
process-based research in a wider context. In general,
however, the book does meet most of its objectives and
GEOMORFOLOGIA DE ESPAÑA. M. Gutiérrez Elorza
(ed.), Madrid, Editorial Rueda, 526 pp, 271 figs, 153 photos,
10 tables, 1994, ISBN 84-7207-075-1. [In Spanish.]
This is an extensive and detailed review of the structural and
historical development of regional geomorphology in Spain.
Indeed, very few countries could claim such an extensive
modern coverage of their regional geomorphology. Its 15
chapters consist of 14 regional studies and an introductory
chapter by Mateo Gutiérrez Elorza that gives an overview of
the principal physiographic regions and the history of their
definition. Gutiérrez gives us a brief but interesting history of
the study of geomorphology in Spain, from Torrubia’s
Natural History of Spain (1754) and the work of the Irishman
Guillermo Bowles (1775), which had the broader title
Introduction to the Natural History and Physical Geography
of Spain (surely one of the earliest ‘physical geographies’ in
existence?), to the post-1970 era of international
collaboration in applied and process studies and national
collaboration between Departments of Geography and
Geophysics and CSIC, the National Research Council.
The book is well illustrated with 271 figures, mainly maps,
block diagrams and cross-sections, and 153 monochrome
photographs. Each chapter is largely concerned with the
evolutionary development of a regional landscape and its
subregions, usually with a structural emphasis. Current
processes are not covered. Chapters average about 30 pages,
though the shortest, on the Catalan region, is only 16 pages
and the longest, on the Pyrenees, covers nearly 70 pages.
Somewhat unusually, there are no chapter numbers, but more
importantly there is no index. This is perhaps not as
represents a valuable post-graduate/researcher level
reference source. In this regard it makes a timely contribution
to this important subject area.
BOB FERRIER
Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, UK
problematic as it might seem, since the strict regional
approach generally requires little cross referencing between
chapters.
A major strong point of the book is the exhaustive regional
bibliographies associated with each chapter. The chapter on
the Pyrenees contains about 350 references. There are about
300 references on the Duero basin, about 280 on the Ebro
basin, and even the rather unusual chapter on the
geomorphology of the deep sea areas contains about 250
references.
A score of authors contribute three chapters on the
Hercynian massifs in the west of Spain; a chapter on the
predominantly Palaeozoic and Mesozoic southern region, the
Cordillera Betica, and the Balearic Islands; three on the great
Tertiary depressions, the Ebro, Duero and Tajo; three on the
Alpine fold mountains and cordillera with their Hercynian
basement rocks in the north, the Cordillera Iberica south of
the Ebro, the Pyrenees to the north, and the Vasco-Cantabrian
mountains and the Catalan coastal system to the west and east
respectively; and three chapters on the seas, the coasts and the
Canary islands.
Overall, this book provides a well-presented and
authoritative guide, which should be indispensible not only to
specialists in Spanish geomorphology but also to those
involved in taking student field trips and expeditions to Spain
or the Spanish islands. A working knowledge of Spanish will
obviously be an advantage, but there is nevertheless a lot that
can be gleaned without this.
J. A. A. JONES
Institute of Earth Studies
University of Wales, Aberystwyth