Antarctica: Soils, Weathering Processes and Environment

Antarctica: Soils, Weathering Processes and Environment Soils are not the most obvious feature of Antarctica. Limited as they are to the slightly over 1% of Antarctica free from ice, they could well be dismissed as of little importance and probably inadequately researched. That would be unwise and this volume demonstrates clearly how the dedication of a few soil scientists over almost three decades has resulted in a detailed understanding of a group of unusual soils.

Antarctica: Soils, Weathering Processes and Environment Antarctica is a big place and the studies by the New Zealand and American pedologists, which form the bulk of this volume, have concentrated on soils in the dry valleys of Victoria Land. These are typically xeric soils, in some cases very old and almost always with associated salt accumulation. The authors have attempted to keep the volume Antarctic-wide but published information from the maritime Antarctic islands, the Antarctic Peninsula and some areas of East Antarctica is limited, and this makes the book seem less comprehensive than it really is. Their approach, both in the book and in their many published papers, has been essentially descriptive. As yet there has been little evidence of much experimental work on Antarctic soils.

The authors have attempted to set the scene for the non-Antarctic soil scientist with initial chapters on geology and geomorphology, climate and biology, emphasizing those features of significance in soil formation and development. They then embark on the meat of the volume in two chapters dealing with soil-forming processes — physical and chemical.