Drawing on over 40 years of experience, this is the second geomorphology and neotectonics textbook that Bull has written in the last three years. Both books are well written and have a highly personal style. The older book is entitled Tectonic Geomorphology of Mountains: A New Approach to Paleoseismology (Bull, Reference Bull2007). This newer book focuses on the evolution of hills and streams.
One of the appealing aspects of the book is that Bull uses a limited suite of landscapes with an array of climatic, lithologic and tectonic characteristics to highlight case studies. The majority of case studies focus on the tectonic geomorphology of southwestern North America, supplemented by examples from young landscapes in New Zealand and Greece, and the longer-duration setting of the Himalaya. The tectonic history of these areas is introduced in the first chapter and then the regions reappear in case studies involving examples of specific characteristics. For students, this approach is clearly beneficial, as they can learn about an area in detail and thereby more readily link the scientific concepts in subsequent chapters. Of course, this set of examples is best suited to a North American audience, which is more likely to be familiar with the geology and geography.
The remaining seven chapters cover Drainage Basins, Hillslopes, Sediment Yield and Landslides, A Debate About Steady State, Erosion and Tectonics, Fault-Propagation Landscapes, and Tectonic Geomorphology of a Plate Boundary. In general, the chapters first examine how rock uplift and fluvial incision influence hillslope processes before moving onto more regional, landscape-scale topics. The text contains numerous examples illustrating methods of quantitative analysis of geomorphic features. Equations are introduced in a simple, direct way. Figures are abundant and well drawn. This work is well-suited for use as an upper-level undergraduate textbook or as a resource for graduate students. Interestingly, it is possible to purchase individual chapters from both books as pdf files. Certainly a digital version would be helpful for teachers who wish to use the abundant illustrations in their lectures.
