It is 10 years since publication of the first edition of soils of the past. In that time the subject of paleopedology has grown rapidly, and established itself within the mainstream of geological research.
Ancient soils contain vital mineralogical, geochemical, textural, and paleontological information about the continental environments in which they formed. Advances in isotope geochemistry and sequence-stratigraphic models allow ever more detailed reconstructions of environmental change from paleosols, and new insights into such diverse topics as atmospheric chemistry, global change, palaeoecology, geobiology and mass extinction.
This fully updated second edition of Soils of the Past describes the main types of ancient soil, procedures for their recognition and study, their classification and, most significantly, a wide array of examples of how paleosols have been used for paleoenvironmental reconstruction.
Soils of the past is written for advanced undergraduates studying paleopedology as part of a degree in geology, environmental science, or physical geography, and for interested professional earth scientists.
