Climate Change in Deserts

Reconstructing climatic changes in deserts and their margins at a variety of scales in space and time this book draws upon evidence from land and sea including desert dunes wind-blown dust river and lake sediments glacial moraines plant and animal fossils isotope geochemistry speleothems soils and prehistoric archaeology. The book summarises the Cenozoic evolution of the major deserts of the Americas Eurasia Africa and Australia and the causes of historic floods and droughts. The book then considers the causes and consequences of desertification and proposes four key conditions for achieving ecologically sustainable use of natural resources in arid and semi-arid areas. Climate Change in Deserts is an invaluable reference for researchers and advanced students interested in the climate and geomorphology of deserts: geographers geologists ecologists archaeologists soil scientists hydrologists climatologists and natural resource managers.