Five years after the publication of his World Atlas of Holocene Sea-Level Changes, Paolo Pirazzoli, one of the leading figures in Quaternary sea-level studies, is back with another authoritative book on this topic. This new effort succeeds in compacting a wealth of information on sea-level fluctuations into little more than 200 pages. Quite often, data discussed in the book are first-hand results obtained by the author through the years while surveying coastal features world-wide. This "personal" approach to sea-level changes is highlighted by a nice selection of black and white pictures on world-wide coastal features accompanying the text, most from Pirazzoli's own archive.
The scope of the book, encompassing so many disciplines (earth, marine, environmental and human sciences), is obviously very broad and, necessarily, many arguments are not treated in great detail. Even so, the book is astoundingly well documented, and the reader will be soon aware that all important points about theory and facts on late Quaternary sea-level fluctuations are now available in a very concise and rigorous form. For the reader of the Journal of Sedimentary Research, it must be stressed that this is not a book on sedimentology. As such, there is not too much discussion about geo-sedimentological processes coupled with sea-level changes. However, by tackling a comparably short time-span, a mere 20,000 years of the latest Quaternary, and moving from the uplifted shores of Fennoscandia to the raised atolls of the Pacific, the book makes the reader aware of what sea-levels are in reality and how and why they fluctuate through time. For those scientists approaching sea-level problems in a simplistic though not naive way (as exemplified by the search for a single, global sea-level curve), this book is an essential reading.
The book is subdivided into six chapters. Chapter 1, "Causes of sea-level change" provides the necessary background to understand the basic causes of sea-level fluctuations. The reader will find the tables on the world water balance and on the volumes of water stored in the ice caps at present and during glacial times particularly useful. Chapter 2, "Evidence of former sea levels" is, to my personal view, the most original and useful part of the book. In fact, one crucial issue in reconstructing former shorelines is the choice of proper sea-levels indicators. Many geological papers aimed at evaluating former sea levels have been flawed by an inappropriate evaluation of such markers! This chapter covers this topic by discussing biological and geomorphic sea-level indicators on a worldwide basis. The remaining chapters are arranged to cover sea levels in the last 20,000 years in a chronological progression: "The Ice age Earth" (Chapter 3), "Deglacial sea-level changes" (Chapter 4), "Relative sea-level changes in the late Holocene" (Chapter 5), and "Present-day sea-level trends" (Chapter 6). All these chapters are not simply compilations of assigned sea-level positions through time during the latest Quaternary. Instead, they are used for discussing a number of scientific and methodological topics. Thus, the reader will find, among others, subchapters on such hot arguments as CO2 exchanges, Younger Dryas, paleomonsoons and trends in future sea-level fluctuations. The book ends with an impressive reference list and very useful indexes of authors, geographic locations, and subjects.
No book is without flaws. I was somewhat disappointed by the quality of many line-drawings, generally reproduced from published sources. They are surely essential, but not appealing enough for a book with the announced ambition to be (deservedly) used by teachers also. The very low price of the book, however, may be a possible explanation for this minor weakness.
In conclusion, this book should appeal a wide range of scientists and is highly recommended to students and professionals.
Marco Taviani
Istituto per la Geologia Marina
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Bologna
ITALY
Source
http://archives.datapages.com/data/sepm/journals/v66-67/data/068/068001/0235.HTM