An Introduction to the Environmental Physics of Soil, Water and Watersheds

Softcover  454 pp, 210 diags, 10 illus, 17 tabs, 83 exercises  ISBN 0521536790      £30.00

Hardcover  454 pp, 210 diags  ISBN 0521829941      £75.00

This introductory textbook describes the nature of the Earth's environment and its physical processes so as to highlight environmental concerns arising from human use and misuse of soil and water resources. The author provides a thorough introduction to the basic issues regarding the sustainable, productive use of land resources that is vital in maintaining healthy rivers and good groundwater qualities. He develops a quantitative approach to studying these growing environmental concerns in a way that does not require prior knowledge of the physical sciences or calculus. The straightforward writing style, lack of prerequisite knowledge and copious illustrations make this textbook suitable for introductory university courses, as well as being a useful primer for research and management staff in environmental and resources management organisations. Each chapter ends with a set of student exercises for which solutions are available from solutions@cambridge.org.

Contents

Preface; 1. Environmental systems of rock, soil and earth energy exchanges; 2. Soil and soil strength; 3. The behaviour of liquids; 4. Soil, water and watersheds; 5. Evotranspiration and energy exchange at the earth surface; 6. Infiltration at the field scale; 7. Surface hydrology of watersheds; 8. Water erosion and deposition; 9. Watersheds and rivers; 10. Water movement through the groundwater zone; 11. Water movement through the unsaturated zone; 12. Salinity and contaminant transport; Appendix table A; Index.