About one-third of the Earth’s land surface experiences a desert climate, and this area supports approximately 15% of the planet’s population. This percentage continues to grow, and with this growth comes the need to acquire and apply an understanding of desert geomorphology. Such an understanding is vital in managing scarce and fragile resources and in mitigating natural hazards. This authoritative reference book is comprehensive in its coverage of the geomorphology of desert environments, and is arranged thematically. It begins with an overview of global deserts, proceeds through treatments of weathering, hillslopes, rivers, piedmonts, lake basins, and aeolian surfaces, and concludes with a discussion of the role of climatic change. Written by a team of international authors, all of whom are active in the field, the chapters cover the spectrum of desert geomorphology.

Over the last twenty years there has been a major expansion of knowledge in the field of landforms and landforming processes of deserts. This advanced-level book provides a benchmark for the current state of science, and is written by an international team of authors who are acknowledged experts in their fields.

Written with the general reader in mind, this is the updated edition of the classic on the geology of the red rock and canyon country of the Fours Corners region of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.