Regolith Science.: KEITH M. SCOTT and COLIN F. PAIN, Editors. Pp. 461. Copublished by Springer Science and CSIRO Publishing. Springer, Order Department, PO Box 2485, Secaucus, NJ 07096-2485, USA. Tel. 1.800.777.4643; Fax: 1.201.348.4505; E-mail, ny@springer.com. ISBN 978-1-4020-8859-9. 2008. Price US$189.00, 129,95.

Abstract

This hardcover tome brings together a series of chapters written by scientists who were part of the 13-year-long Cooperative Research Centre for Landscape Evolution and Mineral Exploration (CRC-LEME) that wound up in 2008. Predictably, the book has a strong Australian flavor, which is hardly surprising—CRC-LEME’s CEO, Steve Rogers, points out in the preface that, of the six books listed by Amazon.com that deal with regolith on earth, four have Australian authors associated with this organization. The 14 chapters making up the book have involved 20 contributors, with the book moving from Scott and Pain’s introductory chapter on what is regolith, through to Clarke’s final chapter dealing with regolith on other planets. Pillans’ chapter 2, on dating the regolith, makes use of the age of the Australian continent (Archean to Recent) to evaluate the merits of different dating techniques, as well as dispelling some concepts, such as all Australian regolith being Cenozoic. A discussion of regolith related to tectonics and atmospheric changes introduces a contemporary aspect to regolith dating. The six pages of citations make this chapter a valuable reference in terms of contemporary approaches to dating surficial deposits. Taylor’s chapter 3, which emphasizes the strong relationship between regolith and …