Dissolved loads of rivers and surface water quantity/quality relationships, B. W. Webb (Ed.),...
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88 BOOK REVIEWS DISSOLVED LOADS OF RIVERS AND SURFACE WATER QUANTITY/QUALITY RELATIONSHIPS, B. W. Webb (Ed.), International Association of Hydro- logical Sciences Publication 141, 1983. No. of pages: 439 + xi. This volume comprises the Proceedings of a sym- posium held during the XVIIIth General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics at Hamburg in August, 1983. The Symposium was jointly organized by the International Commission on Continental Erosion and the International Commission on Water Quality; this collaboration allowed a review of solute processes and yields to be placed within the context of water management. The volume is divided into three major sections and in each the first paper provides a more general review of the section theme. The first section is concerned with ‘spatial and temporal variations in dissolved loads and solute concentrations’. The review paper, by Walling and Webb, provides a global overview of the dissolved load of rivers, whilst other papers are concerned with a variety of spatial scales from global down to small drainage basins. Results from a variety of environments including glacierized mountains and lowland agricultural catchments are drawn from Europe, Africa, India, and the United States. The first section is also concerned with temporal varia- tions in solute load as indicated by analysis of individual storm events or by analysis of records from routine water quality monitoring programmes. A number of the chap- ters usefully combine considerations of temporal and spatial variation, notably those by Datta, Leidig and Mollenhauer, Davis and Keller, and Froehlich. Much of the work presented is, however, empirical, and as Walling and Webb note (p. 167), there would be much to be gained from a more theoretical approach which could attempt to model the linkages between upstream and downstream solute behaviour. Only the paper by Aurada even suggests the use of models other than the normally- used multivariate statistical methods. The second section deals with ‘sources of dissolved material, solute budgets and denudation’. The review paper by Meyrick considers atmospheric and geological GROUNDWATER AS A GEOMORPHIC AGENT, Binghampton Symposia in Geomorphology, Inter- national Series No. 13, R. G. LaFleur (ed.), Allen and Unwin, Boston and London. No. of pages: 390. If one had asked ten years ago, ‘What are the effects of groundwater as a geomorphic agent?’, the average geomorphologist would have replied ‘Karst’ or ‘Deep weathering’, and perhaps rejoined in puzzlement, ‘Why do you ask?’ It was with high hopes that perceptions had changed that I began reading this Binghampton Symposium volume. I was disappointed. Weathering and karst are still on the agenda, in fact karst fills half of the sources of solutes, a theme considered in several other papers. The role of biochemical weathering processes is also discussed in several papers, notably that by Foster et al. Solute budgets are considered for a variety of lo- cations, including lacustrine and estuarine as well as riverine environments. The paper by Afifi and Bricker provides a marked contrast by providing a theoretical approach to explanations of water chemistry and denud- ation rates based on weathering reactions. One is re- minded of similar approaches described in this Journal by Curtis (1976) and Waylen (1979). Once again the need for a theoretical background to support empirical fieldwork seems apparent. The third group of papers deals with ‘application of surface water quantity/quality relationships’. The review paper by Gras et al. considers the effect of various hydraulic projects on water quality, with particular reference to thermal properties; other papers emphasize nitrate and heavy metals. There is more attention in this section to modelling, notably the papers on real time forecasting by Marivoet, on nutrient load computation by Balland, and particularly that by Caussade and Prat which describes a conceptual hydrological model com- bined with a water quality component to provide a simulation model which can relate land use changes to downstream river water quality. Sussmann (p. 440) uses a mixing model to predict nitrate behaviour during a storm event, this being one of several papers in the volume to consider nitrate pollution of surface waters. Any Conference Proceedings must inevitably lack complete balance, even given the pre-conference paper selection procedure which IAHS operates. This volume is no different, being overdominated by empirical studies at the expense ofmore theoretical approaches. Nevertheless, as a review the volume probably does represent the current state-of-the-art. The book has been carefully edited and produced, contains many papers of great interest, and, like many IAHS volumes before it, will be a valuable addition to the bookshelves of both individual researchers and libraries. TIM BURT Huddersfield Polytechnic book, but the only additions are box canyon valleys produced by sapping. Yet as R. C. Twidale writes, “If Nature were like a connoisseur of Scotch and had no water, the world would be a very different place from the one we have come to know.” In a stimulating chapter he shows how the geomorphic role of subsurface water in the tropics and subtropics can be divided into three broad categories-near-surface weathering with removal of ma- terial in solution, deep weathering in massive rocks with a sharp weathering front, and translocation and redepo- sition of salts as duricrusts. Soils, pseudokarren, fretted pebbles, solution pipes, scarp front depressions, and rock shelters are all attributed to near-surface weathering.
Transcript of Dissolved loads of rivers and surface water quantity/quality relationships, B. W. Webb (Ed.),...
88 BOOK REVIEWS
DISSOLVED LOADS OF RIVERS A N D SURFACE WATER QUANTITY/QUALITY RELATIONSHIPS, B. W. Webb (Ed.), International Association of Hydro- logical Sciences Publication 141, 1983. No. of pages: 439 + xi.
This volume comprises the Proceedings of a sym- posium held during the XVIIIth General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics at Hamburg in August, 1983. The Symposium was jointly organized by the International Commission on Continental Erosion and the International Commission on Water Quality; this collaboration allowed a review of solute processes and yields to be placed within the context of water management.
The volume is divided into three major sections and in each the first paper provides a more general review of the section theme. The first section is concerned with ‘spatial and temporal variations in dissolved loads and solute concentrations’. The review paper, by Walling and Webb, provides a global overview of the dissolved load of rivers, whilst other papers are concerned with a variety of spatial scales from global down to small drainage basins. Results from a variety of environments including glacierized mountains and lowland agricultural catchments are drawn from Europe, Africa, India, and the United States. The first section is also concerned with temporal varia- tions in solute load as indicated by analysis of individual storm events or by analysis of records from routine water quality monitoring programmes. A number of the chap- ters usefully combine considerations of temporal and spatial variation, notably those by Datta, Leidig and Mollenhauer, Davis and Keller, and Froehlich. Much of the work presented is, however, empirical, and as Walling and Webb note (p. 167), there would be much to be gained from a more theoretical approach which could attempt to model the linkages between upstream and downstream solute behaviour. Only the paper by Aurada even suggests the use of models other than the normally- used multivariate statistical methods.
The second section deals with ‘sources of dissolved material, solute budgets and denudation’. The review paper by Meyrick considers atmospheric and geological
GROUNDWATER AS A GEOMORPHIC AGENT, Binghampton Symposia in Geomorphology, Inter- national Series No. 13, R. G. LaFleur (ed.), Allen and Unwin, Boston and London. No. of pages: 390.
If one had asked ten years ago, ‘What are the effects of groundwater as a geomorphic agent?’, the average geomorphologist would have replied ‘Karst’ or ‘Deep weathering’, and perhaps rejoined in puzzlement, ‘Why do you ask?’ It was with high hopes that perceptions had changed that I began reading this Binghampton Symposium volume. I was disappointed. Weathering and karst are still on the agenda, in fact karst fills half of the
sources of solutes, a theme considered in several other papers. The role of biochemical weathering processes is also discussed in several papers, notably that by Foster et al. Solute budgets are considered for a variety of lo- cations, including lacustrine and estuarine as well as riverine environments. The paper by Afifi and Bricker provides a marked contrast by providing a theoretical approach to explanations of water chemistry and denud- ation rates based on weathering reactions. One is re- minded of similar approaches described in this Journal by Curtis (1976) and Waylen (1979). Once again the need for a theoretical background to support empirical fieldwork seems apparent.
The third group of papers deals with ‘application of surface water quantity/quality relationships’. The review paper by Gras et al. considers the effect of various hydraulic projects on water quality, with particular reference to thermal properties; other papers emphasize nitrate and heavy metals. There is more attention in this section to modelling, notably the papers on real time forecasting by Marivoet, on nutrient load computation by Balland, and particularly that by Caussade and Prat which describes a conceptual hydrological model com- bined with a water quality component to provide a simulation model which can relate land use changes to downstream river water quality. Sussmann (p. 440) uses a mixing model to predict nitrate behaviour during a storm event, this being one of several papers in the volume to consider nitrate pollution of surface waters.
Any Conference Proceedings must inevitably lack complete balance, even given the pre-conference paper selection procedure which IAHS operates. This volume is no different, being overdominated by empirical studies at the expense ofmore theoretical approaches. Nevertheless, as a review the volume probably does represent the current state-of-the-art. The book has been carefully edited and produced, contains many papers of great interest, and, like many IAHS volumes before it, will be a valuable addition to the bookshelves of both individual researchers and libraries.
TIM BURT Huddersfield Polytechnic
book, but the only additions are box canyon valleys produced by sapping. Yet as R. C. Twidale writes, “If Nature were like a connoisseur of Scotch and had no water, the world would be a very different place from the one we have come to know.” In a stimulating chapter he shows how the geomorphic role of subsurface water in the tropics and subtropics can be divided into three broad categories-near-surface weathering with removal of ma- terial in solution, deep weathering in massive rocks with a sharp weathering front, and translocation and redepo- sition of salts as duricrusts. Soils, pseudokarren, fretted pebbles, solution pipes, scarp front depressions, and rock shelters are all attributed to near-surface weathering.
