Steepland geomorphology concerns high gradient landscapes which are either tectonically active or influenced by volcanism and where there is a perceived close relationship between soils, incomplete vegetation cover, recent geomorphic processes and associated landforms. Such areas are difficult to manage because of their high variability in terms of natural stability and because of inadequate theory and models. This book, through thirteen independent steepland field investigations, illustrates the differing conceptual frameworks that are used at four different temporal scales of investigation. The first four investigations, from Southern Africa, the Yukon Territory, the German Alps and Colombia, define relevant temporal scales. The other investigations concern the sediment production problem in Spitzbergen and northern Norway, sediment storage phenomena in Iceland, Bolivia, the Himalayas and the Apennines, and methods of interpreting environmental change from Japan, the Canadian Rockies, Ecuador and Bolivia.

The purpose of this book is to demonstrate that the land-based geomorphological evidence of environmental change from late Pleistocene, Holocene, historical and contemporary time periods remain central to a full understanding of global environmental change both at the global and regional scale. Geomorphology, Human Activity and Global Environmental Change begins with a look at how global Pleistocene climate change affected placation and tectonic instability. The middle section then looks at environments unaffected by human activity in an attempt to explore scenarios that may result from climate change alone in the future. The final two sections look at human activity and global environmental change by monitoring floodplain stratigraphy, cartographic evidence, sediment transport, watershed studies and coastal surveys, and offer practical advice on land management issues. Case studies from Europe, North America and Asia are used.

This book is intended for environmental consultants, civil engineers, postgraduates and researchers in geomorphology, geology, civil engineering, environmental science and geography and as supplementary reading for upper level undergraduates of geomorphology in departments of geography, geology and environmental science.

This is the first textbook to consider all aspects of the cryosphere system in the context of global environmental change driven by human activity and climate. Considers all six aspects of the cryosphere - ice sheets, glacier ice, permafrost, river and lake ice, sea ice and snow - in the context of global environmental change driven by human activity and climate. Describes a new concept of cryosphere transience and landscape transition which links climate, hydrology, ecology and geomorphology. Looks at the evidence, process, and patterns of cryosphere change, on local and global scales. Provides a wealth of data to inform the current global environmental change debate.

Additional resources for this book can be found at: http: //bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=index&bcsId=5064&itemId=140512976X.