Pollution of Lakes and Rivers: A Paleoenvironmental Perspective

Smol, J.P. 2002. Co-published by Oxford University Press, New York. 280 pp. Glossary, Index. Paperback ISBN: 0 340 69167 0; Hardcover ISBN: 0 340 74146 5

Summary

Water is essential to life, yet the pollution of lakes and rivers has become an international problem that has reached crisis proportions in many regions. As our demands on aquatic resources escalate, we must find new approaches to meet the challenges of the coming decades. One of the most pressing problems to effective management is the lack of long-term monitoring data. This book shows how paleolimnological approaches can be used to interpret the physical, chemical, and biological information stored in lake and river sediments, and to reconstruct past environmental conditions. Such data are required to assess the trajectories of environmental degradation and recovery, set realistic mitigation goals, and evaluate models.

Pollution of Lakes and Rivers addresses many of the current-day water quality problems from an international perspective, covering critical issues such as acidification, eutrophication, land-use changes, pollution by metals and other contaminants, introduction of exotic species, and biodiversity losses.

The field of paleolimnology has been rapidly evolving, with new applications and approaches being developed at a frenetic pace. This up-to-date volume provides wide-ranging insights into the multi-disciplinary science of paleolimnology that can help us address many of the most pressing environmental problems of modern times.

First textbook dedicated to paleolimnology, focusing on water quality issues

Includes comprehensive overviews of the myriad approaches and techniques used by paleolimnologists to track environmental change

Fully illustrated throughout, with original drawings

Addresses critical water quality issues that are high on international political, social and scientific agendas

Table of Contents

Preface
1. There is no substitute for water
2. How long is long?
3. Sediments: An ecosystem's memory
4. Retrieving the sedimentary archive and establishing the geochronological clock: Collecting and dating sediment cores
5. Reading the records stored in sediments: The present is a key to the past
6. The paleolimnologist's Rosetta Stone: Calibrating indicators to environmental variables using surface sediment training sets
7. Acidification: Finding the "smoking gun"
8. Metals, technological development, and the environment
9. Persistent organic pollutants: Industrially synthesized chemicals "hopping" across the planet
10. Mercury -- "The metal that slipped away"
11. Eutrophication: The environmental consequences of over-fertilization
12. Erosion: Tracking the accelerated movement of material from land to water
13. Species invasions, biomanipulations, and extirpations
14. Ozone depletion, acid rain, and climatic warming: The problems of multiple stressors
15. New problems, new challenges
16. Paleolimnology: A window on the past, a key to our future
Glossary, Index

ORDERING INFORMATION

The Arnold Publishers website at: http://www.arnoldpublishers.com has the paperback listed (July 2002) at £19.99 and the hardcover listed at £50
North American orders should be placed with Oxford University Press:
In USA, the paperback was listed (July) at $29.95 and the hardcover at $72.00 USD at http://www.oup-usa.org/isbn/0340691670.html
In Canada, the paperback was listed at $53.95CDN (http://www.oup.com/ca/isbn/0-340-69167-0) and the hardcover at $119.50 CDN (http://www.oup.com/ca/isbn/0-340-74146-5)