The volume includes items presented at a meeting of the Geological Society's Environmental & Industrial Geophysics and Hydrogeological groups in 2003, and others submitted subsequently. In a lengthy, and comprehensive, introductory article the editors stress the importance of understanding geological factors, which they consider has been inadequate, and of the use of appropriate investigative techniques and models, including those used in the hydrocarbon industry. These perceived deficiencies are addressed in many of the remaining 18 articles on studies of Permian to Mid Triassic continental sandstones of aeolian and fluvial origin that are organized under the headings of Flow, Unsaturated Flow, and Pollutant Movement.

Flow: The influence of geological factors on flow is emphasized in nine studies that cover the Dumfries Basin aquifer (SW Scotland), the Brockram, Penrith Sandstone, and Sherwood Sandstone Group (SSG) formations in Cumbria, and the SSG elsewhere in England. The distribution of porosity and permeability in the Penrith Sandstone is related to subtle variations in rock fabric; pore geometry in that unit and in SSG formations in the Cheshire Basin, central Midlands and Devon was studied using spectral induced polarization. Other studies of SSG formations cover permeability in contrasting lithofacies in the mainly aeolian Wilmslow Sandstone and succeeding mainly fluvial Helsby Sandstone (Cheshire Basin), factors affecting flow in the Wildmoor Sandstone (central Midlands) and hydraulic conductivity in the SSG in E Yorkshire, and the effect of calcrete on conductivity in the Otter Sandstone in E Devon, which is a hydrocarbon reservoir farther east in the Wytch Farm field. The effect of fault seals, well-known in relation to hydrocarbon production, has only recently been recognized in groundwater management in W Lancashire, the Wirral, Merseyside and N Cheshire where the SSG aquifer is compartmentalized by faults.

Unsaturated Flow: A study of fully- and partially-saturated Wildmoor Sandstone (SSG, central Midlands) found that the Waxman–Smits and Hanai–Bruggeman models give better characterization of the rock's electrical properties and correlation with independently determined hydraulic properties than Archie's oil-field-oriented model. Saline tracer migration in unsaturated SSG in Yorkshire was followed using 3-D cross-borehole electrical resistivity, and pore-water concentration changes were estimated by combining resistivity and cross-borehole radar tomograms.

Pollutant Movement: Among the seven contributions in this section a study of non-reactive solute movement through undisturbed, laminated, saturated samples from the SSG in Merseyside and Worcestershire highlights the importance of diffusion; and investigations into the source of arsenic concentrations in water from SSG formations in a borehole in Cheshire, the causes of variations in nitrate concentrations in the Penrith and St Bees Sandstone aquifer in the River Eden valley, Cumbria, and the identification of the source of saline groundwater in the SSG aquifer at Selby (Yorkshire), using oxygen and sulphur isotopes, are reported. A study of dense-non-aqueous-phase liquid (DNAPL) contaminant transport using samples from the Vale of Eden, W Lancashire, the Cheshire Basin, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, the central and E Midlands and the Hampshire Basin showed that only 5% DNAPL may reduce permeability significantly and that a DNAPL saturation of c. 60% inhibits water flow. Two related contributions on a kerosene leakage into an aeolian sandstone aquifer reveal that initial remediation objectives for its management were based on incorrect assumptions because a model applicable to the movement of light non-aqueous-phase liquids in a granular medium, that has been understood by the hydrocarbons industry for some 50 years, was not properly appreciated by the UK groundwater remediation sector.

The volume is well illustrated and, though containing some editorial and typographical flaws and inconsistencies, is a welcome contribution on this important subject. It is recommended to fluid flow specialists and geologists alike.