Climate Change in Deserts
Past, Present and Future

A synthesis of the environmental and climatic history of every major desert and desert margin, for researchers and advanced students.

Martin Williams (Author)

9781107016910, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 August 2014

650 pages, 147 b/w illus. 27 tables
26.1 x 18.3 x 3.3 cm, 1.5 kg

Reconstructing climatic changes in deserts and their margins at a variety of scales in space and time, this book draws upon evidence from land and sea, including desert dunes, wind-blown dust, river and lake sediments, glacial moraines, plant and animal fossils, isotope geochemistry, speleothems, soils, and prehistoric archaeology. The book summarises the Cenozoic evolution of the major deserts of the Americas, Eurasia, Africa and Australia, and the causes of historic floods and droughts. The book then considers the causes and consequences of desertification and proposes four key conditions for achieving ecologically sustainable use of natural resources in arid and semi-arid areas. Climate Change in Deserts is an invaluable reference for researchers and advanced students interested in the climate and geomorphology of deserts: geographers, geologists, ecologists, archaeologists, soil scientists, hydrologists, climatologists and natural resource managers.

1. Introduction
2. Present-day desert environments
3. Cenozoic evolution of deserts
4. Adaptations to life in deserts
5. Evolution of desert research
6. Dating desert landforms and sediments
7. Stable isotope geochemistry
8. Desert dunes
9. Desert dust
10. Desert rivers
11. Desert lakes
12. The pluvial debate
13. Desert glaciation
14. Speleothems and tufas in arid areas
15. Desert soils, paleosols and duricrusts
16. Plant and animal fossils in deserts
17. Prehistoric occupation of deserts
18. African and Arabian deserts
19. Asian deserts
20. North American deserts
21. South American deserts
22. Australian deserts
23. Historic floods and droughts
24. Desertification: causes, consequences and solutions
25. Current climatic trends and possible future changes
26. Towards sustainable use of deserts.

Subject Areas: The environment [RN], Palaeontology [RBX], Meteorology & climatology [RBP], Geological surface processes [geomorphology RBGD], Earth sciences, geography, environment, planning [R], Archaeology [HD]