This unusual volume deals with deformation of sediment by glacial processes, the landforms developed as a result, and the processes involved in forming them. The book is the sixth in a series edited by Professor van der Meer on aspects of Quaternary geology. As an increasing interest is being taken in the mass balance of modern glaciers, the products of glaciotectonism can potentially reveal a great deal about the response of ice masses to climatic warming. Aber & Ber's volume is divided into 13 relatively digestible chapters. The book may be considered as being divided into three parts: the first three chapters on theory, chapters 4–12 mainly on field examples, and chapter 13 on analogues to glaciotectonic settings and structures.
The first chapter provides a neat summary of the evolution of this branch of Quaternary science. The second chapter deals with ‘geometric analysis’ of glaciotectonic structures, providing a brief resumé of conventional field methods used in structural geology, and the use of stereographic projections, before moving onto non-conventional methods including ground penetrating radar, transient electromagnetics, and remote sensing. The third and final ‘theory’ chapter deals with kinematic analysis. For those familiar with structural geology, this section is brief but useful revision. The shortfall of this chapter in particular is in the reproduction quality of the figures. For instance, figures 3–8 and 3–9 are simply photocopied/scanned from their original sources with no effort to enhance image quality. Indeed, the same is true of the book as a whole, and it is unclear what advantage is gained by reproducing poor quality topographic maps in several places (e.g. Fig. 4-1) when photos or sketches of the features would suffice.
The remainder of the book contains chapters devoted to hill–hole pairs, composite ridges, cupola hills and drumlins, megablocks and rafts, intrusions, diapirs and wedges, the role of basement and deep crustal structures, attempts to summarize the practical applications of glaciotectonics, and the distribution and ‘dynamism’ of glaciotectonics. The detail in some of these chapters, particularly those on deep crustal structure and applied glaciotectonics, is admirable and not encountered elsewhere. Furthermore, the wide use of photographs and field examples, most notably from Denmark, is excellent.
In a book of this type, it is surprising that the authors do not state outright who their intended audience is. This is a pity, and after a thorough read it still remains unclear. What is certain is that this is not an undergraduate book. The volume also fails to acknowledge some important recent papers that review glaciotectonic deformation, such as Bennett's 2001 paper in Earth Science Reviews. Finally, a summary chapter on potential new avenues of research would be invaluable, but lacking in this first edition.
To summarise, Aber & Ber are to be congratulated on a neat hybrid of a textbook, review paper and monograph. The book will certainly have its place amongst the literature on glacial deformation processes and products, and is likely to be of use as a training tool for physical geography students of glaciotectonics, but might also prove to be useful revision for those well versed in structural geology but tackling Quaternary sediments for the first time.
