MIDDLETON, G. V. (ed.) 2003. Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. xxx + 821 pp. Dordrecht, Boston, London: Kluwer. Price Euros 399, US $390, £250 (hard covers). ISBN 1 4020 0872 4

Abstract

A book of this nature is always a challenge to a reviewer to find out just how comprehensive it really is. My first few hours of using this book were taken up with attempts to think of relatively obscure terms or concepts in sedimentary geology and then looking for them within the 821 pages of text. Overall I was reasonably satisfied that the subject area was well covered, although I was disappointed that neither ‘jokhul-haup’ nor ‘sandur’ seemed to have a mention when I reviewed the glacial sections, and when looking more broadly, the terms ‘palustrine’, ‘strandplain’ and ‘chenier ridge’ also appeared to be absent. At first I thought that there were more omissions, as I could not find terms like ‘dropstone’ and ‘adhesion ripple’ in the index, but it transpired that the index was at fault here and mention of these topics was to be found buried in articles. It was perhaps a little unfair of me to be deliberately looking for faults from the outset, but this approach did give me an insight into the organisation of the encyclopedia and an indication of how useful it might be to the casual (or indeed, intensive) user. I was not wholly impressed with what I found. The book is organized into approximately 250 topics about which an …