Papers by J.M. Bowler and B.G. Thorn separately annotated.

"The Liwu River runs a short course; its channel head at the water divide in Taiwan's Central Range is a mere 35 km from its outflow into the Pacific Ocean. But in those short 35 km, the Liwu has carved one of the world's geographic wonders: the spectacular Taroko Gorge with marble and granite walls soaring nearly 1000 m above the river channel. Taroko Gorge was a fitting venue for a 2003 Penrose Conference that addressed the coupled processes of tectonics, climate, and landscape evolution. The young mountains, extreme weather, and dramatic landforms provided an appropriate backdrop to wide-ranging discussions of geomorphic processes, climate and meteorology, sediment generation and transport, the effects of erosion on tectonics, and new analytical and modeling tools used to address these processes and problems. This volume's papers extend that discussion, reaching across fields that have experienced rapid advances in the past decade."--Publisher's website.

Australian Landscapes provides an up-to-date statement on the geomorphology of Australia. Karst, desert, bedrock rivers, coasts, submarine geomorphology, biogeomorphology and tectonics are all covered, aided by the latest geochronological techniques and remote sensing approaches. The antiquity and enduring geomorphological stability of the Australian continent are emphasized in several chapters, but the cutting-edge techniques used to establish that stability also reveal much complexity, including areas of considerable recent tectonic activity and a wide range of rates of landscape change. Links to the biological sphere are explored, in relation both to the lengthy human presence on the continent and to a biota that resulted from Cenozoic aridification of the continent, dated using new techniques. New syntheses of glaciation in Tasmania, aridification in South Australia and aeolian activity all focus on Quaternary landscape evolution.

Ayers Rock Uluru the largest monolith in the world, how did it get there? This book explains the wonders of the Australian landscape in the context of geology, geography, botany, zoology, ecology, environmental studies and agricultural science. Illustrated with 359 colour photos, 20 black and white photos, and 170 maps and diagrams. The authors teach and research in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (Geology and Geophysics) in the University of Adelaide.

This book provides readers with a unique understanding of the ways in which Aboriginal people interacted with their environment in the past at one particular location in western New South Wales. It also provides a statement showing how geoarchaeology should be conducted in a wide range of locations throughout Australia. One of the key difficulties faced by all those interested in the interaction between humans and their environment in the past is the complex array of processes acting over different spatial and temporal scales. The authors take account of this complexity by integrating three key areas of study – geomorphology, geochronology and archaeology – applied at a landscape scale, with the intention of understanding the record of how Australian Aboriginal people interacted with the environment through time and across space. This analysis is based on the results of archaeological research conducted at the University of New South Wales Fowlers Gap Arid Zone Research Station between 1999 and 2002 as part of the Western New South Wales Archaeology Program. The interdisciplinary geoarchaeological program was targeted at expanding the potential offered by archaeological deposits in western New South Wales, Australia. The book contains six chapters: the first two introduce the study area, then three data analysis chapters deal in turn with the geomorphology, geochronology and archaeology of Fowlers Gap Station. A final chapter considers the results in relation to the history of Aboriginal occupation of Fowlers Gap Station, as well as the insights they provide into Aboriginal ways of life more generally. Analyses are well illustrated through the tabulation of results and the use of figures created through Geographic Information System software.

Australian vegetation has interested botanists and naturalists since Europeans first encountered Australia and its plant life. This 1994 edition of Australian Vegetation reviews the vegetation of the continent as a whole. In the introductory section, chapters on phytogeography, vegetation history and alien plants set the scene for further sections covering all the major vegetation types. The plant life of extreme Australian habitats is also discussed, and the book closes with a chapter on the conservation of Australian vegetation. Each chapter, written by experts on each particular habitat type, will inform and stimulate the interests of students and professional botanists, especially those fortunate enough to see for themselves the unique vegetation and flora of Australia.