Table of Contents

Preface to the second edition.
Preface to the First Edition.


Acknowledgments.


Part 1: Soils and Palesols.


1. Paleopedology.


2. Soils and under the landscape.


3. Feature of Fossil Soils.


4. Soil-Forming processes.


5. Soil Classification.


6. Mapping and Naming Palesols.


7. Alteration of Paleosols after burial.


Part 2: Factors in soil formation.


8. Models of Soil Formation.


9. Climate.


Organisms.


11. Topographic relief as a factor.


12. Parent Material as a factor.


13. Time as a Factor.


PART 3: Fossil record of Soils.


14. A long-term natural experiment in pedogenesis.


15. Soils of other worlds.


16. Earth's earliest landscapes.


17. Earl life on land.


18. Large plants and animals o land.


19. Afforestation of the Land.


20. Grasses in Dry continental Interiors.


21. Human Impact on Landscapes.


Glossary.


References.


Index.

About the Author

Gregory John Retallack is an Australian paleontologist, geologist, and author who specializes in the study of fossil soils. His research has examined the fossil record of soils though major events in Earth history, extending back some 4.6 billion years.

Reviews

"With its wide sweep of ideas, should be read by all interested in
soils and processes that shape them." Times Higher Education
Supplement

"This is certainly a book for the library shelves of any Earth
science or geography department, and certainly a thought-provoking
read for any student of Earth history or environmental change."
John Conway, The Holocene, April 2002