Antarctica: soils, weathering processes and environment I.B. Campbell and G.G.C. Claridge Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam & New York (1987). 406 pages. Dfl 220. ISBN 0 444 42784 8.
Antarctica: soils, weathering processes and environment I.B. Campbell and G.G.C. Claridge Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam & New York (1987). 406 pages. Dfl 220. ISBN 0 444 42784 8.
复制标题
DOI：
10.1017/s095410208921012x
复制
发表时间：
1989-03
影响因子：
1.6
通讯作者：
D. Walton
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
D. Walton
泥土并不是南极洲最明显的特征。尽管它们仅限于南极洲略高于1%的无冰地区，但它们很可能被认为是微不足道的，而且可能没有得到充分的研究。这是不明智的，这本书清楚地表明，在近30年的时间里，少数土壤科学家的奉献精神如何导致了对一组不寻常的土壤的详细了解。南极洲是一个很大的地方，新西兰和美国的土壤学家的研究集中在维多利亚大陆干燥山谷的土壤上，这两个国家构成了这本书的大部分。这些都是典型的干旱土壤，在某些情况下非常古老，几乎总是伴随着盐分的积累。作者试图将这本书的篇幅保持在整个南极地区，但发表的南极海洋岛屿、南极半岛和东南极一些地区的信息有限，这使得这本书看起来并不那么全面。他们的方法，无论是在书中还是在他们的许多出版论文中，基本上都是描述性的。到目前为止，几乎没有证据表明在南极土壤上进行了大量的实验工作。作者试图以地质地貌、气候和生物学为开头的章节，为非南极土壤科学家设置场景，强调这些在土壤形成和发展中具有重要意义的特征。然后，他们开始在两个章节中讨论土壤形成过程物理和化学风化，然后是三个章节描述土壤特性、土壤分布和土壤分类。土壤中的盐分有单独的一章。为了将这本书结合在一起，作者综合了土壤风化和冰川学的数据，重建了维多利亚大陆过去400万年的年表。这本书以一个简短的章节结束，讲述了这些特殊土壤对破坏的敏感性，以及保护和管理它们的必要性。这本书结构很好，使用起来很方便。几乎完全没有印刷错误。这本书开头的土壤剖面和风化的彩色照片对于那些从未去过南极洲的人来说是一幅有价值的插图，有许多很好的半色调插图，遗憾的是127页上的那幅显然是颠倒印刷的。参考书目很广泛，有350多篇参考文献，但绝不是详尽的。这是不幸的，因为大多数工人将把这一体积作为南极土壤的主要来源。例如，遗漏了一些关于美国工作的相关论文和相当多关于土壤生物学的重要参考文献。相当令人惊讶的是，大卫和普里斯特利的重要初始论文(英国南极考察队190749，地质学，1，L-3 1914年)描述了罗伊德角的藻类泥炭，芒硝，鸟粪的化学分析和风化过程，没有被引用，也不是唯一的南极土壤的主要微形态研究(库比纳)。汉堡包地理研究，24,349-373。1971年)。1982年以后，很少有参考文献表明，这份手稿很可能是在那时左右完成的，出版商花了相当长的时间才出版了这本书。我认为，如果作者在文章中提到一些亚北极土壤，它们与北极土壤的相似性比南极大陆的寒冷沙漠土壤要明显得多，那就更好了。他们显然觉得这超出了他们的职权范围。关于小气候的数据很少，但似乎冰冻和风干循环的频率在任何关于风化过程的讨论中都是至关重要的。作者比较了南极土壤分类的各种尝试，并得出结论，目前国际上对土壤的定义将排除非腐殖质极地土壤。他们的理由很充分，这些土壤确实构成了土壤，它们超出了目前分类的极端，但通过放松对某些类别的一些严格定义，它们可以被包括在内。它们在发展我们对重要土壤过程的理解方面的价值是相当大的，如果把它们放在正确的全球背景下，将会得到加强。鉴于土壤模式在很大程度上是地质和地貌的函数这一说法，我希望看到地貌学某些方面的更广泛的论述，这本书只有17页。然而，面对以一种易于理解的形式汇集大多数关于南极土壤的文献的努力，吹毛求疵将是粗鲁的。像往常一样，我希望有一本书的价格是工作科学家能够负担得起的水平，但这显然不是。这不是第一本专门研究极地土壤的书，但它是第一本只涉及南极土壤的书。作者的合成值得祝贺，这为他们多年的实地工作提供了一个适当的高潮。这一卷为今后的工作提供了一个基准，并表明我们对大陆土壤的了解已经走了多远，而我们对海洋土壤的了解是多么的少。对于感兴趣的土壤科学家来说，南极和亚南极仍然有相当大的机会。
Soilsare not the mostobvious 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 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 VictoriaLand. 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 bookandin theirmany publishedpapers, 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 nonAntarctic 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 weathering followed by three chapters describing soil properties, soil distribution and soil classification. Salts in soils are given a separate chapter. To draw the book together the authors use a synthesis of data on soil weathering and glaciology to reconstruct the chronology of the last four million years in Victoria Land. The book concludes with a short chapter on the sensitivity of these special soils to damage and the need for their conservation and management. The book is well structured and easy to use. Misprints are almost totally absent. The colour photographs of soil profiles and weathering at the start of the volume are a valuable illustration for those who have never visited Antarctica There arc many good half-tone illustrations and it is a pity that the one on p. 127 was apparently printed upside down. The bibliography is extensive with over 350 references but is by no means exhaustive. This is unfortunate since most workers will turn to this volume as the principal source on Antarctic soils. Missing, for example, are some of the relevant theses on American work and quite a few significant references on the biology of the soils. Rather surprisingly the important initial paper by David and Priestley (British Antarctic Expedition 190749, Geology, 1,l-3 19. 1914) which describes the algal peat, the mirabilite at Cape Royds, the chemical analysis of guano and the processes of weathering is not quoted, nor is the only major micromorphological study of Antarctic soils (Kubiena. Hamburger Geographische Studien, 24,349-373. 1971). There are few references after 1982 which suggests that the manuscript was probably completed around then and the publishers took rather a long time to produce the volume. 1 believe it would have been better if the authors had included some mention of the subantarctic soils which show much clearer analogies with arctic soils than the cold desert soils of the Antarctic continent do. They apparently felt this to be outside their remit. Few data are given on microclimates yet it would seem that the frequency of freezehhaw and weddry cycles would be of fundamental importance in any discussion of weathering processes. The authors compare the various attempts at classification of Antarctic soils and conclude that the present international definitions of a soil would exclude the ahumic polar soils. Their case is well made that these do constitute soils, that they are beyond the extremes of present classifications but that by relaxing some of the rigid definitions for certain categories they could be included. Their value in developing our understanding of important soil processes is considerable and would be enhanced by placing them in the correct global context. Given the statement that ‘the soil pattern is very much a function of the geology and geomorphology’ I would have liked to see a more extensive treatment of some aspects of geomorphology, which is restricted to only 17 pages. It would be churlish however to carp in the face of this effort to bring together in an accessible form most of the literature on Antarctic soils. As always I would have hoped for a volume priced at an affordable level for the working scientist which this clearly is not. This is not the first book devoted to polar soils but it is the first concerned only with Antarctic soils. The authors are to be congratulated on their synthesis, which provides a fitting culmination to their years of field work. This volume provides a baseline for future efforts and demonstrates how far we have gone in our understanding of continental soils and how little we know of maritime soils. There remain considerable opportunities in the Antarctic and the Subantarctic for interested soil scientists.