Palaeontological results of the Polish Antarctic expeditions — Part 1. Edited by A. Gaździcki Palaeontologia Polonica, No. 49 (1987), 168 pages, 53 text figs, 44 pls.

Soilsare not the mostobvious feature of Antarctica. Limited as they are to the slightly over 1 % of Antarctica free from ice they could well be dismissed as of little importance and probably inadequately researched. That would be unwise and this volume demonstrates clearly how the dedication of a few soil scientists over almost three decades has resulted in a detailed understanding of a group of unusual soils. Antarctica is a big place and the studies by the New Zealand and American pedologists, which form the bulk of this volume, have concentrated on soils in the dry valleys of VictoriaLand. These are typically xeric soils, in some cases very old and almost always with associated salt accumulation. The authors have attempted to keep the volume Antarctic-wide but published information from the maritime Antarctic islands, the Antarctic Peninsula and some areas of East Antarctica is limited, and this makes the book seem less comprehensive than it really is. Their approach, both in the bookandin theirmany publishedpapers, has been essentially descriptive. As yet there has been little evidence of much experimental work on Antarctic soils. The authors have attempted to set the scene for the nonAntarctic soil scientist with initial chapters on geology and geomorphology, climate and biology, emphasizing those features of significance in soil formation and development. They then embark on the meat of the volume in two chapters dealing with soil-forming processes physical and chemical weathering followed by three chapters describing soil properties, soil distribution and soil classification. Salts in soils are given a separate chapter. To draw the book together the authors use a synthesis of data on soil weathering and glaciology to reconstruct the chronology of the last four million years in Victoria Land. The book concludes with a short chapter on the sensitivity of these special soils to damage and the need for their conservation and management. The book is well structured and easy to use. Misprints are almost totally absent. The colour photographs of soil profiles and weathering at the start of the volume are a valuable illustration for those who have never visited Antarctica There arc many good half-tone illustrations and it is a pity that the one on p. 127 was apparently printed upside down. The bibliography is extensive with over 350 references but is by no means exhaustive. This is unfortunate since most workers will turn to this volume as the principal source on Antarctic soils. Missing, for example, are some of the relevant theses on American work and quite a few significant references on the biology of the soils. Rather surprisingly the important initial paper by David and Priestley (British Antarctic Expedition 190749, Geology, 1,l-3 19. 1914) which describes the algal peat, the mirabilite at Cape Royds, the chemical analysis of guano and the processes of weathering is not quoted, nor is the only major micromorphological study of Antarctic soils (Kubiena. Hamburger Geographische Studien, 24,349-373. 1971). There are few references after 1982 which suggests that the manuscript was probably completed around then and the publishers took rather a long time to produce the volume. 1 believe it would have been better if the authors had included some mention of the subantarctic soils which show much clearer analogies with arctic soils than the cold desert soils of the Antarctic continent do. They apparently felt this to be outside their remit. Few data are given on microclimates yet it would seem that the frequency of freezehhaw and weddry cycles would be of fundamental importance in any discussion of weathering processes. The authors compare the various attempts at classification of Antarctic soils and conclude that the present international definitions of a soil would exclude the ahumic polar soils. Their case is well made that these do constitute soils, that they are beyond the extremes of present classifications but that by relaxing some of the rigid definitions for certain categories they could be included. Their value in developing our understanding of important soil processes is considerable and would be enhanced by placing them in the correct global context. Given the statement that ‘the soil pattern is very much a function of the geology and geomorphology’ I would have liked to see a more extensive treatment of some aspects of geomorphology, which is restricted to only 17 pages. It would be churlish however to carp in the face of this effort to bring together in an accessible form most of the literature on Antarctic soils. As always I would have hoped for a volume priced at an affordable level for the working scientist which this clearly is not. This is not the first book devoted to polar soils but it is the first concerned only with Antarctic soils. The authors are to be congratulated on their synthesis, which provides a fitting culmination to their years of field work. This volume provides a baseline for future efforts and demonstrates how far we have gone in our understanding of continental soils and how little we know of maritime soils. There remain considerable opportunities in the Antarctic and the Subantarctic for interested soil scientists.