This book will open up a large body of data previously inaccessible or unknown to non-francophone geomorphologists, geologists and geographers. It provides an insight into the regional geomorphology of basement terrains in France and elsewhere which do not belong to the list of benchmark case studies, recurringly explained in mainstream textbooks. The essay style of the nine chapters, the permanent and holistic reference to landscapes of the real world, and the constant shuttle between field and laboratory studies help to remind students that the analysis of the geomorphic landscape is a humbling process of interpretation, requiring the collation of many strands of evidence. This is not always apparent in more linear textbooks on process geomorphology, where topics are dealt with in more detail but also more theoretically.

A major area of interest in French geomorphology during the last quarter of a cen- tury has been to understand denudation chronologies and the legacies of environ- mental change in shield regions. The mechanisms and consequences on landform patterns of differential erosion in plutonic,metamorphic and related cover rocks have been approached from the double angle of structural landforms in the landscape and petrographical,mineralogical and geochemical analysis in the laboratory. The detailed study of layered igneous intrusions has been particularly helpful in making progress more generally in the understanding of crystalline landform configurations of base- ment terrains. The Laboratoire de Geographic Physique CNRS-URAiai. nowreformed as twin research units (Paris: CNRS-UMR8591,and Clermont-Ferrand: CNRS-UPRES- A6042), and itsprecursor research group at the Sorbonne under the guidance of Pierre Birot,constituted the spawning ground for French research on the geomorphology of basement terrains. Alain Godard masterminded much of the research synthesised in this volume,which isbased on apreviously publishededition in French. YannickLageat and Jean-Jacques Lagasquie have not only upheld the spirit of this school of geomor- phology but also introduced novel concepts and methods to the investigation of crys- talline terrains. They have also maintained geomorphological research abreast of con- temporarydevelopments in the geosciences. YanniGunnell translated the original text into English, adapted the figures and introduced a measure of editing, updating and explicating in order to make the volume more accessible - not only to a non franco- phone audience, but to an audience unfamiliarwith the intellectual undercurrents and 30 years.